By Kristen Gupton-Williams

"Vincent, you were having a nightmare." Tifa said down to him, her hands still resting on his shoulders.

"No, it was more than that." Vincent locked gazes with her. "You need to go get Quigley right now, I need to talk to him."

"Why, what’s wrong?" She asked, not accustomed to seeing him this upset.

"Just go get him, all right?" He replied, trying to calm himself.

"Okay." Tifa limped the short distance to the intercom panel. She looked at the various names on the list next to it, until she came across Quigley and his room number. Tifa typed in the five number code and waited.

After a few moments, Quigley’s voice responded. "Who is this? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Quigley, it’s Tifa." She was relieved to hear him. "Vincent needs you."

"What’s going on?" The fact that he had been awoken from a sound sleep was obvious.

"He won’t say, just that he needs you here now."

"Fine, just give me a few minutes." Quigley sighed before letting go of the intercom button.

It wasn’t long before Quigley, clad only in his bathrobe walked into the infirmary. He made his way to Vincent’s side and stared down at him. "What’s the problem?"

"I need another dose right now." Vincent said flatly.

"Of the Chaos drug?" Quigley needed clarification in his dazed state.

"Yeah." Vincent let his head rest back against his pillow.

"It hasn’t been long enough. We should at least give it a day." Quigley was never one for breaking protocol.

"I don’t care how long you’re supposed to wait between doses. Chaos is still in my mind and he will either try to get me to escape or die trying." Vincent closed his eyes, still remembering the feeling of the creature’s hands upon his throat.

"No way." Tifa leaned over, as if to shield him from Quigley. "You just had a bad dream, Vincent. There’s no reason to risk going through another injection because of it."

He gently reached up and pushed her back. "It was more than a dream, Tifa. If we don’t kill him quickly and completely there’s no telling what he’ll do in desperation."

Quigley shoved his hands into the pockets of his robe. "I’m going to have to agree with Vincent on this one. If he feels the demon is a threat still then we have to act. We can’t risk letting that monster do anymore harm."

Tifa leaned back to steady herself on her own bed. She felt so helpless. "Vincent, are you sure?"

The reality of all that the demon had done up until this point was foremost on Vincent’s mind. His brother was most likely dying, his wife had been shot, and Cid and his infant had almost been killed. There were far too many people in the balance not to take the risk. "I’m sure."

"Fine." Quigley shuffled from the room to retrieve the needed chemical from his lab.

Tifa looked at Vincent with fear and sadness. "I just want this all to be over."

"That’s why I have to do this." Vincent tried to smile. It wasn’t fair for her to have to watch all of what was going on around her and he knew it. "Why don’t you go to our room and get some sleep?"

"Are you crazy?" Tifa placed her hands on her hips. "How am I supposed to just go to bed when you’re about to undergo another injection of that… stuff?"

"I don’t want you to have to see that again, Tifa." Vincent reached out for her hand. "You’re hurt and you really do need to rest."

"I don’t care about sleeping right now." She became defiant. "There is no way that I’m going to leave you. Not now, not ever."

Vincent was genuinely touched by her stubbornness. His smile widened as she held his hand firmly in her own. "Have I mentioned that I love you?"

She scoffed, "Not near enough."

Vincent wasn’t exactly certain what she meant by that, but when she also broke into a grin, he saw that her playfulness had returned. "Well, I’ll try to remember to do it more often."

She bent down and kissed him. "I love you, too."

Their moment was broken when Quigley stumbled back into the room with a loaded syringe in his hand. "Ready?"

Vincent nodded. "As much as possible."

"Good." Quigley looked over at Tifa. "Dr. Arlin had some extra doses of Valium drawn up in case he had another seizure tonight, right?"

"Yeah, they’re right here," she pointed to a small tray between the two beds.

"Have one ready to give to me, okay? Just in case." Quigley asked as he picked up the section of Vincent’s I.V. line that had the injection port on it. Slowly, he injected the chemical, watching Vincent for any reaction.

The burn of the drug entering his vein made him tense up. Then Chaos, in his last attempt at survival tried to get Vincent to move away but his broken and weak body just flailed piteously on the bed. The demon forced out one final ear-shattering scream before losing control over Vincent’s body. Instead of the full blown seizures that Vincent had suffered that last time he was given this drug, he was reduced to trembling following Chaos’s surrender.

Quigley and Tifa stood there watching as Vincent quieted down and his trembling abated. Within a few moments, he was able to talk again, "Tifa… I’m gonna be sick…"

Immediately, she retrieved a small garbage can sitting between the beds and held it up.

Vincent rolled onto his side as the wave of nausea grew. He took the trashcan from Tifa and gave into his sickness. Tifa remained at his side stroking his back in an attempt to comfort him.

Quigley in the meanwhile started to feel ill as well. He had never been a strong-stomached man, and the sight of Vincent vomiting was more than he could bear. Deciding that Vincent wasn’t in any more immediate danger, he turned from the scene and headed for the door. "Try and hold off calling me until morning, okay?"

Tifa barely gave any regard to the retreating man, focusing instead on her sick husband. "Any better?"

The nausea was passing and Vincent handed the trashcan back to her.

Tifa took the can and set it on the floor as far away as she could without walking on her injured leg. She then grabbed a handful of tissue and handed it to Vincent. "Here."

He grabbed the tissue without even looking up. After wiping his mouth, he threw the tissues to the floor and rolled onto his back. He was drenched in sweat from the drug reaction and vomiting, but still looked strangely relieved. "I feel better."

She smiled as she took some more tissue and wiped dry his forehead. "Good. If you think you’ll be okay for a few minutes, I’d like to go check on Tseng."

"Sure." Vincent suddenly felt very tired and closed his eyes.

Tifa limped around her bed and picked up the pair of crutches that the doctor had left for her earlier. Carefully she made her way into the surgery suite where Tseng was being kept. The light inside was very dim and she had to let her eyes adjust. She had come in to look at him shortly after Vincent had visited earlier but Tseng looked much different now under the blue glow of his monitors. He was asleep and she didn’t want to wake him and so just stood staring. The pale light served only to make him look more like his brother. Tifa felt tears sting her eyes as she realized that Tseng was not going to live. No doctor had to tell her that he was going to die; just from the feeling in the room she knew. It was almost as though Tseng himself was telling her and yet at the same time, he was also telling her that it was okay. It immediately brought back memories of her mother’s death. Just before her mother had passed, the same feeling had come over her. At once, Tifa knew that she should get Vincent to be here.

She went back out into the infirmary and to Vincent’s beside. Tifa shook him gently back out of his sleep. As his eyes opened and focused on her, she whispered. "Vince, I think you need to come see Tseng."

Somehow, Vincent at once knew. Although his body was still in terrible shape, he managed to sit up. He grabbed hold of his I.V. stand to steady himself and draped his other arm around Tifa’s shoulders. Together, they managed to make it back to Tseng’s bedside.

They stood together looking down at him, hearing the heart monitor slowly begin to indicate that his heart rate was slowing.

Even though she knew that is was pointless, Tifa asked Vincent, "Do you want me to call the doctor?"

Not wanting his brother’s final moments to be a flurry of medical activity, Vincent quietly declined. "No."

The number on the heart monitor continued to drop as Vincent and Tifa stayed at his side.

Eighty.

Seventy.

At fifty, a quiet alarm started to go off on the monitor. With tears in his eyes, Vincent reached up and hit the silence button on it.

Forty.

Twenty.

Then, the number simply went to zero.

Tifa and Vincent held onto each other, both crying quietly. At least they had been there.

Dr. Arlin ran into the room and saw the two of them there as the various monitors silently flashed in the background. The alert had been transmitted to her room and she had come as quickly as possible, but upon seeing Vincent and Tifa standing as they were at the side of the bed she knew that this was not a time for medical heroics. "He’s gone?"

Vincent turned his tearful eyes to her, letting his expression alone be her answer.

Janice felt her own tears make tracks down her cheeks. She walked over and turned off the machines and monitors. She then removed the endotracheal tube from Tseng so that no one else would have to see him that way. She excused herself from the room before locking herself in her office to cry.

***

Reno awoke from a sound sleep to grab his ringing cell phone from the nightstand. He looked at the clock and knew that by the early hour that this call had to be important. In fact, before he even answered, he suspected what it would be about. "Hello?"

Dr. Arlin’s voice was barely recognizable on the other end. It took her several stuttering attempts before she was able to get out the simple code, "You… you’ve been promoted."

Reno flipped the phone closed and let it fall to the floor. His throat tightened up and he felt the unfamiliar heat of tears in his eyes. After gathering himself for a moment, he reached over and gently woke up Angel.

She looked up at him with groggy eyes. "What?"

He pulled her over and into his arms. "Tseng is gone."

Angel, having been dreading this news broke down at once in Reno’s embrace. With her crying against him, Reno gave into his own tears as well.