"Why?" Tifa repeated, her head hanging down over the bar. It was the only thing she had said since Cloud walked in, carrying Vincent in his arms. Tears flowed down her cheeks, into her drink. Grimoire said he'd come to help his son. To banish the demons. Why did he have to kill him? He had made it sound like they could avoid it. Tifa brushed the tears from her eyes, and glanced over at Cloud. He was curled up in one of the booths. His chin rested on the knee he had hugged to his chest. The swordsman looked like he was on the verge of tears himself, but nothing came from his eyes. And that nothing didn't just stop at crying.

(xXx)

Cloud ran into the cave. According to the documents Shalua showed them from Lucrecia, this is where she said she had found Chaos. It was also where the demon seemed to react stronger upon they're journey, so it wasn't too difficult to discover where Grimoire had taken Vincent.

He stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw, heart freezing into a heavy chunk that sunk to his feet. What was he seeing? Dr. Valentine craddled his son in his arms, a faint glow surrounding his body. He hadn't even seemed to acknowledge Cloud was there.

Cloud took a step closer. "What?" Anger swelled in his body. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Grimoire's head fell lower over his son, pulling him closer to him.

Cloud's fists clenched until his nails dug into his palms. "ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!?!" Without waiting for an answer, Cloud ran over, falling into the water. He stumbled slightly, from the resistance, but managed to get his feet back on the bottom of the small pool fast enough. Grimoire let Cloud wrench Vincent from his arms, his eyes not leaving his son's face.

Cloud held Vincent, staring at his pale face in shock. A shaking hand slid up the side of his neck, trying to hold it in place. He could feel the disconnected spine in the back of his neck. It couldn't be. No… Vincent can't be dead. This wasn't right. There had to be another way. Cid had convinced him of that. Vincent could've been saved… so why?

He drew the gunman more into his arms. "No." He whispered, sobbing. "What have you done?" Cloud drew in a shaking breath and shouted, his sorrow melting with his anger. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" His eyes snapped up to Grimoire, who was finally staring at him. "YOU ARE HIS FATHER, DAMN YOU!! HE TRUSTED YOU, AND YOU SNAPPED HIS FUCKING NECK!!"

Those crimson eyes were blank-resolved against Cloud's fury. "I saved him."

"YOU KILLED HIM!!"

"I did what I had to."

"You didn't have to kill him. There was another way." Cloud clung tighter to Vincent's body, falling back into sorrow. "There had to be."

Grimoire's eyes closed, trying to hold back his own sadness. He didn't feel as if he had the right to cry. There was a slim chance that there was another way, but the effects of his bullet would've worn off long before they'd found it. And Chaos had to be stopped. Grimoire shook his head. "I thought there was. I had intended to just kill Chaos, but I examined their relationship, while Vincent was out… and it couldn't be done. The five souls were too entwined within each other. I couldn't have sepperated them in time… not without damaging Vincent's soul. It may not make much sense, but this was safer." He diverted his eyes. "I'm sorry. There was nothing else I could do."

Cloud's grip tightened on Vincent's arm. "Well… there's a way I can still help him."

Gimoire's attention snapped back to him at this. "What?"

"I can resurrect Vincent. Then Cid and I will find a way. We'll save Vincent without your help."

Cloud turned to leave, and Grimoire's heart jumped into his throat. "No! You mustn't." He grabbed Cloud's arm, just as he left the small pool. Cloud jerked his arm away. "Why not? Don't you want your son to live?"

"Of course I do, but you shouldn't resurrect him."

"Why?"

"Because, those Pheonix Downs are only designed to work for one soul. Killing this body has sepperated the five souls, sure enough, but they are all still connected to 'this' body. You'd have no way of knowing which one is channeled back to it."

Cloud's throat felt dry.

"Vincent's outnumbered. There's a higher chance of one of the demon's making their way back in than him. What good would it do, if that happened?"

Cloud just stared at him, feeling his eyes sting. "But." He looked down at Vincent's face again. "He never deserved this… Vincent was finally finding happyness. He fought so hard to hold on. It just doesn't seem right that he should suffer so much, and then just die."

A hand, tinted with a Mako glow, rested on the gunman's head. Fingers tracing through his hair. "I know it doesn't… but that's how things have to go, sometimes." The other hand fell on Cloud's shoulder, the glow growing brighter. "Look at it this way, Cloud. He's no longer in pain." With a weak smile, the light overtook his body, then dispersed, flowing back into the pool of water.

Cloud fell to his knees and cried over the limp body of the man he loved. Kicking himself for ever letting him slip through his fingers.

(xXx)

Barret slammed his fist into the small coffee table. He was trying to fix the hand that Chaos crushed, and his patience was wearing thin. For once, he wished the pilot was around to help him. "It doesn't make any fucking sense." He strained to loosen a knut, that was wedged in the break. "What about all that shit he said to Cid?" Barret released a grunt as the wrench slid off. "Why would he tell him to stay with Vampy, if he was just gonna kill him?"

Nanaki raised his head from the arm of the couch, where he was resting a thick bandage around his middle. "Maybe he was trying not to think about it. Would you try to focus too much, if you were forced to kill Marlene?"

Barret fell silent, his eyes diverting. He shook his head, bending down to retrieve the wrench that'd fell from his hand, voice seeming a pained, uncharacteristic whisper. "Guess not."

Tifa's eyes diverted to the two talking, then back over to Cloud, wiping her eyes. She wanted to go over and talk to him, but something about his posture said she should leave him alone. "Maybe-" She swallowed, trying to steady her voice. "Maybe I'll go check on the others." Tifa stood, scrubbing her face more, and headed upstairs.

Cid, Reeve, and Yuffie were still critical, even after the cure materia had taken affect, and were in the, once again, designated health ward in the bar. Which basically meant, file up from the end of the far wall.

Cloud had walked in, without saying a word, and headed straight up the stairs. Tifa's jaw dropped at the sight of Vincent. Sure he was unconsious the last time she saw him, but surely he would've woken up by now. She followed Cloud and watched as he layed him in the bed of the room next to Yuffie's. Her legs buckled, dropping her to the ground when his head rolled into an angle that it shouldn't have been possible to fall into.

"I-is… he?"

Cloud just ignored her, but situated his ex-lover on the bed. Trying to make it appear natural. He pulled the covers up to Vincent's shoulders, eyes never leaving his face, and gently pushed his lids closed. Cloud closed his own eyes, trying to force back the tears, lips brushing Vincent's forehead. He turned and headed out the door, past Tifa. All he said to her was. "He should be here when Cid pulls through."

Tifa brushed her eyes, feeling her jaw twinge a bit, from where Chaos kicked her. She headed for Cid's room, on the far end of the hall. She opened the door, and froze, jaw dropping. The pilot's bed was empty. He couldn't have recovered that fast. "Cid?" Tifa rushed into the room, throwing back the covers, and looking under the bed and such, calling for Cid, but there was no response.

She rushed out, in a panic and checked the other rooms. Reeve and Yuffie were still sleeping peacefully, but there was no sign of the blonde pilot anywhere. Finally Tifa got to Vincent's room and a wave of terror washed over her. "No."

Tifa ran downstairs, hardly able to catch her breath and screamed. "Cid and Vincent are gone!"

--

AN: yay cliffies..... so close... one mroe chappy.... are you excited? i'm excited..... hold yur breath people, and i won't let you suffocate