November Wind

Part One

It had been quite some time since anyone had heard from Cloud. After the defeat of Kadaj and his brothers, he had seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. Tifa sighed as she gazed out at the rain-soaked streets; everything seemed so pointless, now. It was a battle to even wake up in the mornings, much less face the rest of the long, lonely days.

"Cloud, where have you gone?" Tifa wondered, looking up when some movement caught her eye. To her amazement, Vincent was approaching the door; but something seemed odd.

"Is it just me, or is he limping?" Tifa silently questioned, as she left her place behind the bar and walked over to the door, opening it when the ex-Turk was close enough.

"Vincent? Are you all right?" Tifa asked, alarmed when the sound of raspy wheezing reached her ears. With painful slowness, the warrior raised his head to look at her; wine red eyes glazed with illness.

"T-Tifa..." Vincent managed, before what was left of his strength gave out, and he fell forward.

"Hey! Hang on! Vincent, hang in there!" Tifa yelped, gasping when she caught him and, as best as she possibly could, kept him from falling onto the soaked sidewalk. Her stomach lurched within her when the sticky, fluid warmth of blood was smeared on her shirt, and when Vincent coughed raggedly; bringing up more from lungs she could only guess were also bleeding.

"I've got to get him inside and out of this rain." Tifa thought, as she dragged the dying man into the bar. Somehow, she didn't know quite how, she got him upstairs and laid him on one of the extra beds. When she was able to get a good look at him, she knew she had her work cut out for her; deep gashes adorned his chest and abdomen, and several showed signs of infection.

"What could have done this? How could he have been so badly injured?" Tifa wondered, as she rushed around, gathering what she knew she was going to need in order to help him.

When awareness returned to his fever-wracked brain, Vincent was more than just a little confused. He was indoors, and felt what seemed to be a bed beneath him. A dull pain ached in his chest when he tried to breathe, and he could taste blood in his mouth.

"Are you awake, Vincent?" Tifa asked, quietly, as she removed what felt like a cold compress from his brow, dipped it into a basin that had been placed on the bedside table, rung it out, and replaced it.

"Barely..." Vincent managed, wincing when the effort of talking caused pain to lance across his chest.

"Then just go ahead and rest." Tifa murmured, not even bothering to hide her concern for the man that now lay on the bed. Vincent nodded, and relaxed; closing his eyes briefly in order to focus on breathing. Every breath, he noticed, was unusually painful. It almost felt as though he were breathing in fire...A fire that seared his damaged lungs and brought blood to the back of his throat.

"Mustn't...mustn't alarm Tifa...C-can't let her know...that I can't breathe..." Vincent foggily thought, as he struggled to keep from choking up the gore from his lungs...an effort that, all too quickly, proved futile. Seconds later, he found himself sitting up and coughing violently; gripping his chest with his right arm while trying desperately to get oxygen into his now dangerously ill body.

"Vincent!" Tifa yelped, her voice freezing in her throat when she saw just what Vincent was coughing up, and how painful the gasps sounded.

"Oh planet, this is bad! Must get my Materia! Hold on, Vincent!" Tifa thought, as she made a mad dash to her room, dove under her bed, grabbed the box that held her Materia, and rushed back to Vincent's side. Panic surged through her when she saw how pale Vincent had gotten in just those few moments; a bluish tinge already settling on his features from the lack of oxygen.

"Cure!" Tifa's mind shouted, as she set the glittering, crystallized energy into her arm, then pumped the healing power into Vincent's chest, hoping against hope that it would work.

"Please, planet...Please let it work. Don't let him die like this!" Tifa desperately thought, as the restorative power flowed into the sick man's chest. To her relief, after a few moments, Vincent's breathing started to ease; the strain also disappearing from his handsome face as oxygen started to reach his bloodstream. She caught him when he collapsed into her, burying his face in her shoulder as he shuddered slightly from illness and exhertion. Without saying a word, she started rubbing his back in an effort to chase the pain away, settling his head on her chest, so he could hear her heartbeat.

"T-Tifa...?" Vincent whispered, after a few moments; his voice sounding rougher than usual.

"Shh. Just rest." Tifa murmured, blushing slightly when she realized just how compromising their current position looked.

"If Cid or Barret ever saw this, they'd never let me live it down." Tifa mused, not realizing that the same thought may have been passing through Vincent's mind as well at the same time.

"Thank you..." Vincent replied, softly, drifting into exhausted slumber not too long afterwards. For a few moments, Tifa continued to sit there, rubbing the slumbering man's back; then she gently laid him back down on the pile of pillows, replaced the cold compress on his fevered brow, and gently whispered something in his ear.

"Anytime, Vincent. I'll be here when you need me. Count on that."

Author's Note!

Yeah, I realize that there might be some OOC, but it really can't be helped (I don't know too much about Final Fantasy VII, since I have only seen Advent Children and read a brief overview of the game). I hope this was okay, otherwise!

Gemini14