Fall from Grace
For: Iskra Revoir
Prompt: Cloud loses his patient for the first time
Summary: Because he needed help, and she knew how to.

There were times when he thought he was invincible, and that nothing could touch him. Growing up as the child prodigy, working his way through medical school, it was all a precursor to this moment it seemed, this one moment of weakness where everything he had ever done didn't matter. He could've been okay not being the child prodigy, and having to truly work as hard as others. He could've been okay with not having a lot of things, or not being able to do a lot of the things he had done, but this one…this one would always be the one he would not be okay with.

Everyone has their fall from grace, and as much as he liked to deny it, he was no different.

They patted his shoulders as he stripped his gloves, the frustration and macabre fascination of holding a dead man's heart in his hands still weighing there.

Cloud Strife, a new and upcoming doctor, rather successful in his recent endeavors, had just lost his first patient. Many of the older doctors saw the natural talent and ease in Strife's work, and the loss of his first patient did not bring him down on their notches, however, for Cloud, this was the ultimate failure. Its one thing he had known since entering the medical field: every doctor is bound to lose a patient eventually, no matter how hard they strive or work to save a life, some are just meant to pass.

Cloud Strife had not been prepared for this loss, nor had he been ready to let go of the patient Zack Fair. Only a few years older than himself, and Zack had been stricken with such an affliction to take his life at an early age. Cloud did not know if his patient had been older, more prepared for death, that maybe the death wouldn't have served such a severe guilt, but he didn't care whether it did or not. Nor did he wish to find out anytime soon. All he knew was that a patient of his had fallen to death at his own hands for the first time, and much too soon for the full and bright life Zack seemed to posses.

He sighed, leaving the hospital at least, escaping the bleak place. Life was seen in a new light now, with the deliverance of Zack's death to his family, to the recently widowed Ms. Aeris Fair, to his friends, life seemed much more dark and dull without the life of Zack Fair in its presence.

He made his way into a familiar haunt of the resident doctors, a small café located just a block from the hospital. Close enough to wake him, but far enough not to see the repercussions of his failure. He took a seat in one of the plush booths, the dark wood paneling of the small building only seeming to close in on him. He sighed, running his hands through his hair, too tired to stand and leave again. Nothing mattered at this point, anyways.

"What can I get for you, hun?"

The voice startled him, causing him to jerk his tired eyes up much too quickly. He recognized the woman, Tifa Lockhart, and she recognized him. She had heard stories of him from the usual doctors, and he in turn had heard stories of her from those same doctors.

"Uh…" he cleared his throat as his voice cracked, "Coffee, black…please."

"Sure thing," she smiled brightly, a bit too bright of light for his sullen and dark mood.

It almost seemed like she burned his eyes with that smile.

He had heard from one of the older, married doctors that she was working for her doctorate in psychology with two jobs, and being the psychology major that she was, and the fact that she had spent most of her years around doctors, she could tell a fallen one when she saw him. She sighed in sympathy as she fixed his coffee; he was probably one of the most promising doctors of his time, but it only took one patient to break a doctor, and she knew this.

"Hey, Yuffs?"

"What?" the scrawny manager cried.

"Can I take a quick break?"

The little woman glared up, "Five minutes," shrewd for such a small woman.

"Thanks," she poured herself a cup of coffee, and moved to the lone doctor's table.

She placed the cup before him, and he looked up, spotting the cup in her hands.

She gave a soft smile, dimmer than the last one she'd given him, "Do you mind…?"

Cloud blinked, and swallowed, "No, no of course not."

She sat down across from him in the tiny booth, "Haven't seen you around here a lot…you're a doctor, aren't you?"

He swallowed, and she watched as the crease on his brow deepened.

"Yes…a doctor," he sipped on his coffee blankly, wincing when he realized how hot it was.

"Name's Tifa Lockhart…I bet I know who you are."

He raised his eyebrows at this, "Really?"

"You're Cloud Strife, aren't you?"

He looked surprised that she knew.

"A lot of the doctors talk about you…say you've got real talent, who knows where you'll be in a few years? I bet you'll take lunch at that fancy restaurant on the other side of the hospital, rather than this dinky place."

He swallowed, "Who knows?"

"I know," she said confidently.

He glanced up at the woman; she starred into her coffee cup, holding it delicately with both hands. She had beautiful hands.

"My mother died when I was little…"

"Um…I'm sorry—

"She had a disease that wasn't well known at the time…you were one of the doctors doing research on it in that lab all these years later. I hear they have a cure for it now, a vaccine and a way to fight it even if the disease is well progressed."

He blinked, surprised, remembering the lab, "Y-yes," he stammered, "I'm sorry it wasn't soon enough—

"No," she held up her hand, cutting him off, "I'm fine with it…I just want to thank you, because without you, there could be a little girl out there right now without a mother."

He blinked, shocked at her words, "I…"

She smiled again, but it was broken at the call of a shrill voice.

"Tifa! Breaks up!"

She turned her head quickly, her ponytail sliding over her shoulder. Cloud watched with fascination, captivated by the small movement.

"Alright, be there in a sec!"

"Not a sec! Now!"

She giggled, turning back to Cloud, smiling again.

She reached across the table, laying a hand on his, "The point is, Dr. Strife…you can't be Superman all the time…but you're always a hero," she squeezed his hand once, before standing and walking back over to her boss.

When she returned to the table to collect the empty coffee cup, she found a tip much too large and a scrawled phone number on a napkin.

She grinned, pocketing the number instead of throwing it out with the trash.

A/N: I really love this one, like seriously, so I want to thank you Iskra for giving me the prompt. I'm not really big on medicine or any type of medical show so I was kind of walking in the dark here (Thus the fact that the disease has no name for either Tifa's mother or Zack) but that part wasn't important. It's really easy to write drabbles rather than full blown chapters. Enjoy!