-1Chapter four

Almost three months had passed since that tragic night of Kalm, only now had the village returned to some sort of normality. Sources of Tifa's nrevealed that a similar attack happened in the rural town of icicle village months prior to the attack in Kalm. But why wasn't it on the news? It was as if no trace of these people could be found.

The seventh heaven had finally been restored, its broken windows replaced, broken doors re-fixed. Business had been getting pretty busy. One particular night too busy to handle and Tifa found herself in a state of loss. Orders were coming left right and centre and she found herself unable to cope. She stood in the hallway, her nerves on the brink of going. Vincent saw her and asked what the trouble was.

"May I be of any assistance?" he asked there and then

Tifa looked at him thinking he was joking but indeed the stern look on his face said it all, "Are you serious?"

"I've been meaning to repay you for your hospitality since you wont take my money."

Right now Tifa could do with all the help she needed but the gothic attire he wore didn't exactly go with dress code, "I'm afraid uniform is required."

"Uniform?" Vincent asked genuinely curious.

"Umm," Tifa felt awkward, "their in the closet in the first floor, you have to pick your own size if your still interested."

Tifa left it at that, Vincent always wore that attire, and dismissed the thought of him helping now that he had to wear different attire.

Half an hour or so later Tifa moved frantically behind the bar, along with other bar staff. She presumed her views were correct. There was no sign of Vincent, to ever think he would wear something different she knew he wouldn't, she wasn't angry with him after all it perhaps was better if he didn't help, it might make things slow down. She finished filling up a pint glass with beer when she bumped into one of the staff.

"Oh I'm sorry I…" Tifa stood there gaping at the worker before her.

There sorting the glasses out stood Vincent, looking completely alien to what she was used to seeing. His bandanna was gone leaving his hair sit naturally onto his face. His cape was nowhere to be seen, his face stood completely revealed to everyone. He wore black trousers along with matching black shirt. He looked very smart, and very….handsome. Tifa scolded herself for thinking such things. Vincent looked at her with a puzzled, expression "This is the uniform isn't it? I wasn't sure. I had trouble finding my size on the labels"

"Uh…Yeah yeah," Tifa tired to hide her shock, "Its just I've never seen you wear anything else."

Tifa felt her cheeks go red, oh goodness how bad that must have sounded. If Vincent was aware of this or not he didn't show it. He just smiled weakly at her and continued with his work, taking a bit longer than anyone to find things here and there.

After another hectic few hours or so the last of the customers were leaving the bar. The mess was notorious, bits of smashed bottles and cigarette stumps and ash lay littered over the floor. Pools of spilt drink were left to form sticky layers on the tables. Tifa was too soft and let the staff go for the night, oh how she regretted that. Vincent was nowhere to be seen, leaving Tifa to attend to the mess, it was 2am and her eyes were feeling heavy with fatigue. Not wasting a moment longer she collected all the broken glass and disposed of it. Coming back she saw it was 3.30. An hour and a half just to do that, she was going to be all night.

She decided to have a drink she needed it, her feet were killing her. Her feet sighed with relief as she took a seat on one of the black sofas. She sat back and shut her eyes only just for a few moments.

When her eyes opened again she saw that the first few sparks of light were coming in from the outside and into the bar. Alarm struck her as she looked at her wristwatch and saw it was 7am the bar reopened at ten for breakfast hour, she'd been asleep for over 2 and half hours. How was she going to clean to entire bar knowing she had little time to prepare. However when she grabbed for her bag she noticed it was gone. Wondering where she had put it Tifa looked around and her eyes widened in surprise.

The place was spotless, all the tables were polished and glistening. The floor smelled fragrantly of Citrus and all the stock had been replenished behind the bar. A wave of gratitude and guilt came upon her when she realised Vincent did all this by himself.

Now there was no need to remain awake any longer, Tifa decided to catch a few hours more sleep and proceeded to bed. When she was on the third floor she noticed that Vincent's door was wide open. Wondering if he was there or not Tifa went to check only to find him fast asleep on that old bed. He was still in his work clothes, the faint smell of cigarettes lingering in the air. She smiled, she never realised how….how.. handsome he looked. His face didn't wear that stern expression, he looked somehow peaceful. His hair long black lay to one side with some of his fringe cascading over his face. His breathing was steady, she could see the slow rising and falling of his chest. Funny, she seemed to think it weird that amongst all those demon entities that was in Vincent he was still, after all….human. Here he was before her sleeping like a man.

Taking one last glance Tifa reached for the handle and shut the door, the door was almost closed when she heard the erratic breathing coming from Vincent. Curious she opened the door a little wider so that she just about saw his face. The muscles were tense on his face and no longer showed the peaceful look he bore a second ago.

"….Lucrecia…no…..don't….I'm…sorry." his breathing was still the same erratic pace, "You…..infected……why?……experimentation……LUCRECIA!"

There was silence and Vincent's breathing returned to its normal pace and his face retuned to its peaceful looking state. Tifa looked for a second longer than normal and closed the door behind her.