By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Tseng and Tifa cruised slowly through the streets of the town in a rented car. There were very few people out this late and Tifa hung out the window calling out his name and scanning everyplace they passed hoping for some glimpse of Vincent. Every few moments they would hear the helicopter pass close by as Angel and Reno also searched.

Not able to hold back any longer, Tseng stopped the car and turned to Tifa. "You told him even though I ordered you not to."

She sunk into the seat and ran a hand through her hair. "Trust me, I feel bad enough about it."

"Why do you feel the need to go against my wishes constantly?" He asked, pulling the keys from the ignition.

Tifa had no real answer for this and just sighed. "Look, I hate to change the subject but aren’t we supposed to be looking for Vincent right now?"

Tseng opened the car door and got out. "That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’ve covered every street in town already so now it’s time to get a closer look."

***

Vincent opened his eyes, finding himself shivering and incredibly groggy. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked around, realizing that he had no real idea of where he was or why, save that he was laying in some god forsaken alley. Slowly he got up and braced himself against the nearest brick wall. With the weakness in his body not only from the drugs but also Cid’s earlier work on him he wasn’t sure how he was going to get anywhere. There was a tall fence behind him and two dumpsters blocking his forward movement. He genuinely had no recollection beyond when he got onto the airship in Rocket and was overwhelmed with confusion with over how he had arrived here, or where here was.

Grudgingly he moved toward the dumpsters determined to push his way through them no matter how unlikely it was. Then he heard a helicopter go over and looked up, hoping to get a glimpse of it in the small sliver of sky over him between the buildings but saw nothing. Not long after he heard something else that sounded like a car door slamming soon followed by another. Hoping that someone could hear him, he called out. "Hello?"

It didn’t take long for him to get a reply. Tseng called back. "Where are you?"

"In the alley." Vincent said with some measure of relief upon hearing his brother’s voice.

Tifa ran forward and shoved the dumpsters apart. Once she spotted her husband she sprinted toward him and into his arms. "I thought we’d never find you!"

"What’s going on?" He asked.

"Chaos took you over and ran away from the base earlier." Tifa dried the tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand.

Vincent was mortified. "I didn’t hurt anyone this time, did I?"

"No." She smiled at him. "It seemed that all he wanted was to get out of the base."

"So I take it this is Costa del Sol?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah." Tifa looked over her shoulder seeing Tseng come up behind her.

Tseng’s expression wasn’t one of relief or happiness. He had his gun drawn and raised it, aiming at Vincent’s head. "Tifa, stand back."

She spun and shielded Vincent with her body. "What are you doing?!"

"Protecting you." Tseng was growing angry with her continued resistance. "Now get away from him."

"What are you going to do to him?" Tifa asked.

"I’m not going to harm him, as long as he doesn’t try anything." Tseng took a step closer.

Tifa could see the look in his eyes and started to wonder if Tseng was to the point where he would actually shoot her if she didn’t do as ordered. Reluctantly she moved away from her husband.

Vincent sighed and put his hands up in the air. "It’s all right, Tifa."

She reached Tseng’s side and turned to face him. Whether it was right or not, it was hard for her to see him at the end of a gun. "I know."

"Okay. I’m going to call for some back up so we can get you into the base safely." Tseng pulled his second cell phone from his pocket. "Janice? It’s Tseng. We’re in the alley on the north side of Rio and Palacios. Get here now, we’ve got him."

Inside Vincent, Chaos was gearing up for another attempt at escape. He knew that being only faced with Tifa and Tseng his chances of getting away were much better than they would be once help arrived. He made his last bid for control.

Vincent felt the change within and brought his hands to the sides of his head. He knew that he wasn’t in any shape to hold off the demon even if Chaos was still weak from the last time. "Tseng… shoot me!"

"What’s going on?" Tseng asked, not willing to fire at his brother without explanation.

"Chaos is trying it…" Vincent collapsed to his knees, struggling for all he was worth but losing anyway. "Don’t let him do it! Shoot me!"

"No!" Tifa screamed and grabbed at Tseng’s arm, forcing him to momentarily waver in his aim at his brother.

"Stop it, Tifa!" Tseng growled back, pushing her away violently before bringing his gun back towards target.

Something within Tifa snapped and she charged back at Tseng. He caught her movement out of the corner of his eye and well aware of her physical prowess knew that he couldn’t afford to actually let her attack him. In a flash he pointed his gun at her and fired, hitting her in the left thigh. His intent hadn’t been to put her life in danger but just stop her from advancing.

The bullet ripped into her leg and Tifa collapsed to the pavement. She clenched her teeth to ward off a scream and pressed her hands around her thigh. It was a clean shoot, through and through the muscle of her leg. Assessing her injury, Tifa knew that the bone was intact but the damage that had been done would prevent her from getting up.

Even though he was battling the demon within himself, when Vincent heard the gunshot he snapped back to reality. Seeing Tifa writhing on the ground and Tseng aiming at her caused him to cry out, but the sound of his voice was soon drowned out by a howl from Chaos.

By the time Tseng turned his attention from Tifa back to Vincent, Chaos had already completely taken over and changed his body in its entirety. "That’s enough! Leave my brother be or I will shoot you as well."

"I either die here in this alley or back in your damned infirmary," the demon hissed back, "I have no choice but to fight."

Tseng was at a real loss for what to do. The monster was right; it knew that either it fought now and possibly lived or gave in and died. There was no way for him to really reason with it since it neither cared about Tifa or Vincent. He desperately hoped that his brother could fight through this but doubted it would happen before things got worse.