By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Vincent started back toward the guestroom he and Tifa shared, hoping to find her still asleep. That hope crumbled however when he ran flat into her just a few paces down the hall.

The look on her face was odd, and at once Vincent feared that she had just overheard he and Cid talking. "Tifa, what are you doing up?"

She just blinked up at him in the darkness before turning back and running into the room, slamming the door in Vincent’s face.

He stood there stunned for a few moments, feeling his stomach knot. He wracked his brain, recalling the entire conversation he and Cid had just finished wondering what she may have heard to elicit such a response. Slowly, he reached out and opened the door only to find Tifa standing with her arms across her chest staring out the window. He took a few steps toward her. "Tifa?"

"Go away." She said curtly.

"Why are you so angry?" He asked, genuinely wanting to know.

She turned toward him, eyes blazing. "So you think that if you die you can hook me up with Cid and everything will be fine?"

He moved a little closer. "No, that’s not it at all…"

"You just decided that you could ‘give’ me to Cid? Pass me off like some sort of item in your will?" She stepped back, not allowing Vincent any sort of proximity.

"I just wanted to make sure that he would be there for you if I didn’t make it, that’s all." Vincent felt down right nauseous.

"Then what was all that ‘you have my approval if something more happens’ crap? And ‘you and Tifa have such chemistry’?" She spat back at him.

"So what, you don’t think that you and Cid have a special relationship?" He retorted.

"Yes, we do." Tifa flipped a hand at him. "A special friendship, and that’s it, nothing more, nothing less. Just because you die doesn’t mean that I’m gonna climb into bed with Cid."

Despite his better judgement, Vincent allowed his temper to flare. "Why not? You’ve climbed into bed with him on plenty of other occasions."

In her now boiling rage, Tifa picked up her brush from the dresser and hurled it at Vincent. "I may have gotten in bed with Cid but I never fucked him! Is that what you think?"

Vincent allowed the brush to harmlessly ricochet off his left shoulder. "I never thought you had. But I don’t see why you haven’t. Obviously I can no longer do the things for you he can."

Meanwhile, in the nursery, Cid was putting his son to bed. When he heard the yelling start in the other room, he at first dismissed it as a marital spat but when he heard his own name being thrown around, he decided to intervene. "It’s too fucking early for this."

Back in their guestroom the argument was going from bad to worse.

If her voice had been harsh before, now it was downright shrill. "Just go back to your brother’s and have your stupid procedure!"

Vincent was hit hard by this statement. "Is that what this is all about?"

"It’s about you being a selfish son of a bitch." Tifa batted back.

Vincent suddenly realized that she wasn’t mad at him at all, she was terrified that he wasn’t going to live. And when she had overheard him speaking to Cid, she had come to believe that Vincent himself doubted his own survival. As much as he now knew he should calm down, something within him kept his blood hot.

At that moment, Cid threw the door to the room open. "What the fuck has gotten into you two?"

Tifa just froze and stared at the pilot agape. Vincent on the other hand spun and faced him. Not only was his anger not receding as it should, but it was growing more fierce. "Stay the Hell out of this!"

Cid raised his eyebrows, never one to back down. "You’re in my house, throwing around my name. I think I’m already involved, Sunshine."

Vincent’s entire posture changed. "I’m not in the mood to deal with you right now, Cid."

Tifa’s eyes grew wide as she realized that something was very, very wrong with Vincent. "Cid, get back!"

He looked past Vincent and over at Tifa. "What the hell is going on?"

Tears came to Tifa’s eyes as an impossible realization came to her. "Cid, get back, please! It’s not Vincent!"

"Oh shit." Cid said simply as he took a step back. "I thought you said he didn’t do this anymore!"

Vincent, no longer in control of himself took a step forward in pursuit of Cid. He had every intention of killing him.

Cid, not knowing what else to do, fled down the hall only to find himself cornered in his own bedroom. Vincent had quickly followed him and now stood in the doorway cutting off all escape for the pilot. Tifa had also ran out of the guestroom, finding herself in the helpless position of being in the hallway behind her possessed husband. "Vincent, stop this!"

He glanced back over his shoulder for a brief moment regarding her, before turning back toward Cid. He took a few steps into the room, planning on how exactly to take down his quarry.

Not knowing what else he could do, Cid picked up the dusty spear that had been resting in the corner of the room for several years. He held its lethal tip out before him and locked gazes with Vincent. "Come on man, snap the Hell out of it! I don’t wanna have to hurt you!"

He smirked in response. "I’m not scared of you and your little toy."

"Chaos, knock it off!" Tifa demanded, as she hauled off and kicked Vincent in the back as hard as she could manage. She quickly came to regret this action as her leg at once stung from striking his unforgiving metallic body.

Vincent barely reacted to Tifa’s attack, only lurching forward a few steps closer to Cid. He brought his hands up slightly as he prepared to lunge. "I’m going to enjoy this. I’ve wanted to rip you apart for a long time, Highwind. And once I’m done with that, I’m going to have some fun with Tifa… and who knows what I’ll do to that little brat of yours."

"I can't let you do that." Cid closed his eyes as he thrusted forward with the pike in his hands, not wanting to see what he was about to do.