Chapter 74: Sacrifice

I was in a panic, and completely lost with myself.

My husband of two years (and my best friend for much longer) had been shot. He was laying on the ground, and blood was beginning to seep through his shirt.

Tifa, once she had seen what had happened, rushed to Tobin's side, knelt down, and, before he could object, ripped his shirt open.

The first thing she saw was a bullet wound in his abdomen, right where his stomach was.

I'm not a doctor, but I am a former Turk; I'm well aware that a gunshot wound to the stomach is a slow and very painful way to die.

The good news is that more than ninety percent of gunshot wounds to the stomach are survivable.

The bad news is...

"He's been shot multiple times," Tifa said.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"He took all of Sumner's bullets," she said. "While we were in the elevator."

At that point, Tobin began to cough, and blood came up out of his mouth.

I looked down at him, and saw more bullet holes, this time in his chest.

I could barely take it anymore; the love of my life was fading fast.

"Lungs," Tifa said in a shaky voice. "He's been shot there, too. They're slowly filling up with blood."

She was now visibly trembling.

Of course Tifa would tremble; he was her cousin, and she had known him much longer than I had.

"Baby," I whimpered as I stroked his hair.

It was then that I started to cry. I had officially lost my ability to behave reasonably.

"What can we do?" I asked in desperation.

"We can get him to a hospital," Tifa replied. "They'll remove the bullets and give him blood transfusions. But his odds of survival would probably be less than fifty percent. And, if he does survive, he'll never be the same again."

I didn't take that all in right away, but it sickened me nonetheless. This meant he might not be able to walk the same way or eat the same way, or something worse. In the unlikely event he did survive, he would not be himself.

"Or," Tifa then began.

"Or?!" I exclaimed.

I couldn't think of an alternative.

But I, of all people, really should have been able to.

"Or we can have him dipped," Tifa replied. "In the Lifestream, on McDougal Island."

Of course! I realized. We can definitely restore him to normal that way.

If we can get him there on time, that is.

"I don't know if we can even get him out of here," I said.

Tifa placed a loving hand on my shoulder.

"I'm a president," she assured me. "I know how to plan ahead."

Suddenly, the glass ceiling above us shattered.

A wrecking ball was descending, and none other than Cid was riding on it. Through the hole in the ceiling, I could see the Highwind hovering above us.

"I came in like a wrecking...HOLY SHIT!" he exclaimed. "Shera! We need a gurney!"

A moment later, a gurney was lowered down into the floor.

Cloud, Tifa, and I lifted Tobin and placed him on the gurney.

Tobin was raised to the Highwind.

We then all climbed into the wrecking ball, and were raised to Highwind ourselves, taking us out of the warehouse for good.

With my last glimpse, I saw a sign near one of the blocked-off exits that read: "Thank you for visiting the Willow Grove Park Mall."

Relics from the Old World were beyond confusing.

MOMENTS LATER...

We boarded the Highwind, and immediately began heading for McDougal Island, home of Skrug, and his fissure where one could be dipped into the Lifestream and healed of any life threatening injuries.

Cid and Shera joined us on the bridge as we all tended to my fallen husband.

"What happened?!" Cid exclaimed.

"Sumner Balen shot him," Tifa replied. "We need to get him dipped before he bleeds out."

And it was then where Shera peered over him.

"Nobody's tried to stop the bleeding?!" she exclaimed. "There's multiple bullet holes!"

"We don't have clamps," Cloud relplied.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Shera groaned.

She cracked her knuckles.

"What are you doing?" Tifa naturally asked.

"Nobody look!" Shera suddenly announced. "I'm engaged!"

Before I could consider what she meant by that, Shera pulled her shirt off and pressed it against Tobin's wounds, applying pressure.

"This will slow down the bleeding," she assured us.

We kept our word and didn't look; though, for the record, it didn't do much help.

The only man, other than Cid, who looked was Tobin.

Had he not been mortally wounded, I would've smacked him.

Just then, Tifa pulled me aside.

She looked at me, and I could see the tears in her eyes.

"Cissnei," she began, "I need you to understand something."

I nodded, even though I knew what she was going to say.

"If this works," she began, "Tobin will stop aging, just like Zack, Vincent, and myself."

"I know," I said. "But he'll live, won't he?"

"Indefinitely," Tifa replied. "That means he'll eventually watch you age and die, along with any children you have."

I'll admit that this wasn't something I had considered in the moment.

"I'm aware," I choked.

I didn't care; I wanted my Tobin to be okay.

What neither of us were aware of, was that Tobin was still conscious, and could hear what we were saying.

FINALLY...

We arrived at McDougal Island, landed the Highwind, and quickly disembarked.

Skrug was there already, in his usual, unwelcoming and grumpy mood.

"Who brings ye 'ere now?" he demanded.

"My husband, Tobin," I replied as we wheeled him off the Highwind. "He's bleeding out fast."

Skrug sighed.

"We need to dip 'em as soon as possible," he said. "We'll discuss payment later."

I didn't care about what it might cost at this point; I just wanted my Tobin healed.

But after we got into Skrugs basement, where the spring was, and as we were fastening him to the chains, Tobin uttered something I'll never forget.

"Cissnei?" he weakly began. "No."

It was an ugly thing to hear.

"No what?" I replied in a nervous, shaky voice.

Of course, I knew exactly what he meant.

"Don't dip me," he pleaded.

"Tobin!" I protested. "This is to save your life!"

"And give me a near eternity without you," he whispered. "I can't do this."

It was devastating.

I wanted to smack him again.

But I knew I couldn't force him. He did have a point.

No.

I truly loved him more than life itself.

That's when I realized that I had to let him go.

I wouldn't cry; there would be plenty of time for that later.

Right now, he needed me in his final moments.

I turned, and prepared to request that Tobin be released from his chains, and that the dipping be called off.

And then, something occurred to me.

I was still carrying my shuriken in my left hand; in all the chaos, I had forgotten to put it down.

A possible solution this presented itself.

Cissnei, you're crazy, I thought.

I knew if this failed, it would cost me my life.

But, it Tobin died, I was all too aware that my life would not be worth living.

So I did it.

I took my shuriken, and I stabbed myself.

"Cissnei!" Tifa exclaimed in horror.

Tobins eyes widened; God only knows what was going through his failing mind.

It was more painful pulling the shuriken out than in.

Blood began to gush from my chest.

My strength was fading fast.

"Dip us both!" I demanded.

Skrug gave me a nasty look.

"Lassie..." he began.

"Are you going to allow me to die?" I said.

I collapsed after that, and lost consciousness.

What happened next is based on Tifa's testimony.

"I'm giving you an executive order," she said firmly. "Save them both."

"I can have ye impeached for this!" Skrug said angrily.

"It's worth it," Tifa said.

The rest of the night wrote itself.

Skrug removed the bullets from Tobin with his giant magnet.

He tied me to the chains right below Tobin.

He lowered us in.

And that's when I regained consciousness.

Green was in every direction.

Skrug then raised us to the surface.

Our blood was still all over our clothes, but we were healed.

We were released from our chains, and set back on the ground.

Tobin looked me in the eyes, and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"What if he refused to help you?" was his first question.

"That was a risk I was willing to take," I replied as my eyes became wet.

"Why, Cissnei?" he asked.

"Because I love you," I replied. "And I can't live without you."

We kissed, with the tears finally escaping my eyes.

It was a beautiful moment.

Then, we all noticed the green glow fading.

The crevice was clearly weakening.

Skrug was standing nearby, giving us all the evil eye.

"There's only one more dip to go," he said.