Chapter 101: Bloody
It was raining.
He was spat out roughly onto the stone street of Hollow Bastion. He quickly threw out his hands to catch himself before he hit the ground, but due to the rain soaked ground and his blood drenched hands, he only ended up slipping and falling flat on his face.
Which really hurt.
He groaned and slowly pushed himself up, clutching his left eye again. That was where the pain was most intense. There was another sharp pain in his shoulder, and something on his right cheek stung.
Plus, there was darkness.
He could feel it, sapping away his strength.
He took a few shaky breaths, trying to ward off the pain. He felt like he was going to pass out any second, the pain was so much, but he knew that he should try and get to Aerith, even though he wasn't quite sure how he was going to get to her house. He didn't even know where he was, let alone where her house was from his current position. Not to mention that Hollow Bastion looked really different while it was raining, and he could hardly see because his vision was so clouded with blood.
But instead of getting to his feet and trying to figure out what to do, he screamed.
Part of it was the pain, part of it was his anger.
"I KNEW IT!" he shouted, at the top of his lungs. "I knew it was just some stupid trick! You just wanted to make me feel sorry for you so that you could attack! I hate you!"
He was so angry.
At his Shadow-
At himself…
Why did he fall for the trick?
Hadn't he been skeptical the entire time?
What made him let his guard down?
"YOU MAKE ME SICK!" he screamed. "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"
His scream slowly fell into a sob, and he just sat there, clutching his head, rocking back and forth slightly. It all hurt so much, too much, but he had wasted the last of his strength screaming. He was shaking, partially from his sobs, partially from being soaked in both rain and blood.
And to make it worse, the darkness in the wound was hungrily eating what little energy he had left.
He screamed again, in pure anguish this time, but it was strangled and quickly fell into even more sobs.
xxx
"Oh, Aerith, look!" Tifa said, going over to the window. "It's raining!"
"So?" Aerith replied.
Tifa frowned, noting a lot of tenseness in Aerith's voice as she said that. She turned around to look at her. Aerith hadn't moved or even looked up from the plate she was currently washing.
"What's wrong?" Tifa asked. "I thought you loved the rain."
Aerith shook her head, stiffly, still refusing to look up. "I hate the rain," she said, voice catching slightly. "It's so sad and… painful…"
Tifa bit her lip, not at all liking the tone in Aerith's voice nor the look on her face.
But she didn't say anymore.
Instead, the room just faded into an incredibly empty silence.
Someone screamed.
Aerith looked up then, the tenseness on her face almost immediately replaced by worry. She set the plate down in the sink and dried her hands off. Tifa cocked her head to the side slightly, straining her ears to see if she could figure out who was screaming.
It wasn't any voice she recognized.
"Is that… Sora?" Aerith whispered, frowning slightly.
Tifa was already heading out the door.
It didn't take them long to find him. His continuous screams were more than enough to lead them to his position. He was in a sad state when they got there, though. He was sobbing, cradling his head in his hands, shaking… almost rocking back and forth slightly. Tifa wondered briefly why he was so upset, but the sight of the blood made her instantly dismiss it.
The physical state of anyone came before their mental state when it came to healing.
Unless, of course, the mental state had to be calmed before the person would even consider needing to be healed.
But Tifa had a feeling that wouldn't be a problem here.
She turned to Aerith for instruction; even if she was an experienced healer herself, Aerith's skills and knowledge far surpassed hers.
She was surprised to find Aerirth frozen, paralyzed, staring at Sora with something between shock and horror on her face. Tifa frowned, wondering what was wrong. The sight of blood never bothered Aerith. It didn't matter how much blood there was, and Tifa was certain that Aerith had seen more blood than this before. So, what was the problem?
Why hadn't Aerith run to Sora immediately upon seeing him, ready to heal his wounds?
Then it hit her.
She cursed herself for not realizing it sooner, when she had sensed Aerith's discomfort concerning the rain.
The rain, though painful, could not have been that hard for Aerith to ignore, especially when someone was most likely hurt and needed healing.
The blood probably wasn't that hard to ignore either. Aerith saw enough blood from the injuries received during the battles with the Heartless. She had most likely just grown so used to it that the sight didn't immediately remind her of him.
But the rain… and the blood… together…
Especially with such a large amount of blood pouring from whatever wound Sora had received.
Plus, Tifa could see it now, there was darkness. Plenty of darkness was rising from Sora, and probably was festering in his wounds, too. She could see the nasty tendrils of it warping the air around them, and could only imagine how it was affecting Sora. It was at least making the pain about ten times worse, and would definitely be quite an obstacle when they finally got around to healing him.
Because darkness made healing wounds ten times more annoying.
And if the wound was fatal-
Tifa didn't even need to finish the thought before she understood exactly what had made Aerith freeze upon seeing Sora.
She swallowed.
Then, hoping to save both Aerith's sanity and Sora's physical state, she said:
"Aerith, why don't you head back? I think I can take care of Sora."
Aerith closed her eyes, and a look of pain flashed across her face for a second before being contained. She took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes again, they were filled with the determination Tifa was used to seeing.
"No, it's alright," she said, steadily enough that Tifa wasn't too worried about her. "I think I can handle this."
Aerith slowly made her way over to Sora, kneeling down next to him, seeming a bit more hesitant than she usually was. She gently tried to pull Sora's hands away from his head, but he resisted her, groaning slightly. She bit her lip, and Tifa saw that she was trembling ever so slightly.
She sighed and made her way over.
Apparently, she would not only have to help Aerith through this, but Sora, too.
"Sora," she said, gently, using a tone that she really only directed at Cloud (honestly, it felt weird to be using it when he was nowhere around). "It's alright. You're okay now." She gently, but firmly, pried his fingers away from his head. "We're going to fix you up, got it? You just have to-" The words caught in her throat when she finally saw his face.
It was almost completely covered in blood. The only blood free part of his face was his right eye, really, and a couple of streaks in the blood that she wasn't quite certain were caused by the rain or his tears. His left eye was a bloody mess, and the only way she could distinguish the large gash that ran across the rest of his face was the darkness that was festering in the wound. What blood free skin there was was discolored; probably warped by the darkness.
Aerith turned away. She was shaking.
"Aerith, do you want me to-" Tifa began, even though she was positive now that she really wouldn't be much use here. The type of healing Sora needed only Aerith could provide.
"No, it's okay," Aerith interrupted. "I- I can do this."
Her voice wasn't nearly as steady as it was before.
Aerith cast a simple Cure to, most likely, keep the wound from bleeding anymore. The darkness in the wound, however, canceled the spell out.
The look on her face upon realizing this was unbearable.
Tifa stared for a moment, unsure of what to do.
Sora needed medical attention that only Aerith could give him.
Aerith was freaking out.
Aerith wasn't going to stop freaking out anytime soon and Tifa didn't necessarily blame her for it.
However, Sora's health was at stake now.
And the longer she let Aerith sit here, the less likely he was going to get better.
She took a deep breath, and then said:
"Why don't we get him inside? Sitting out here isn't doing us any good."
Aerith turned to her, a bit shocked, but the shock was quickly replaced by understanding. She knew that she was freaking out. She knew that wasn't helping right now. She knew that it needed to stop. She rose to her feet, looking like she wanted to apologize, but yet knowing that it really wouldn't help.
The look hurt a bit, but Tifa was just glad that progress was being made.
She dug a potion out of her pockets and forced Sora to drink it. A potion, though it wouldn't really help the wound itself, would at least stop the bleeding. And, the darkness couldn't cancel out the effects of a potion, which was certainly a plus.
"Okay, Sora, do you think you can stand?" Tifa asked. He didn't specifically say yes, but he didn't protest either, and that was a good enough answer for her. She helped him to his feet, though he stumbled the moment she let go of him.
She blamed his probably really disoriented vision.
Oh, and he had lost a lot of blood, too.
She ignored the nagging thought at the back of her mind that there was somehow more to this.
Though it was hard to do when she had to support Sora for the entire walk back to Aerith's house…
He's just been severely injured, she told herself. Probably just in shock.
His face has just been torn open and he really can't see.
I think I'd be in shock, too, if I were in his position.
They were nearly at Aerith's house, now, which Tifa was thankful for. She hoped that as soon as they were inside and out of the rain, Aerith would start doing a bit better. Being out of the rain would take one painful reminder away, and hopefully she'd be able to deal with the large amount of blood and the darkness then.
Aerith had already rushed inside the house. Tifa hoped she was doing something sensible like getting them towels so that they could dry off, and not having a mental breakdown.
Sora suddenly stopped.
They weren't that far from the door.
Tifa tried to keep him going, but he refused to budge.
She did her best not to groan.
This was definitely not what she needed right now.
"C'mon, Sora," she said, pushing him forward. "We have to get you healed."
He shook his head and stayed put. His hand was frantically grasping at his neck, as if trying to grab onto something that wasn't there but should have been. He started scanning the ground for whatever he was missing, though how he planned on finding anything when he could only see out of one eye Tifa wasn't entirely sure.
She frowned, trying to figure out what it was that he was missing.
She vaguely remembered him wearing a necklace of sorts when she had seen him back in Olympus Coliseum. He must have lost it recently.
She wasn't really all that surprised, though. The gash across his face also cut across his neck and into his shoulder. The necklace could've been easily been severed by a blow that did thatmuch damage.
She sighed.
"Listen, Sora, you go inside and have Aerith take care of you," she said. "I'll find it, okay?"
He only stared at her, which was a bit unnerving with the bloody mess that was his left eye.
"You, go, in," she repeated slowly, pointing at the door. "I'll find it."
He nodded in a way that kind of reminded her of Cloud, and then headed inside.
Despite the rain and the terrible lighting, it didn't take Tifa too long to find his dropped necklace, and she was grateful for that.
I wonder why he's so worried about it… she couldn't help but think as she bent down to pick it up. It was nothing special, really. Just a plain crown charm on a chain. The chain was severed, just as she thought, and it didn't look like it would be easy to fix.
Maybe it means something special to him.
There was some blood splattered on it, though with the rain it was starting to wash off. Tifa took a moment to rub off what blood was left with her fingers before heading inside.