Guilt’s Cost: Part XL

Containment

Dr. Arlin finished Tifa’s exam, being quite pleased with Angel’s work. Tifa was now sitting up, despite the pain it caused her. The doctor handed Tifa a bottle of antibiotics and gave her the okay to leave the infirmary. Tifa walked painfully toward the door with Angel’s help, almost running into Tseng as he entered.

"Tifa, you’re up." Tseng smiled, noticing how heavily she was relying on his niece for support.

She returned his smile; still grateful for the comfort he had given her earlier. "Yes, and I want to see Vincent now."

Angel handed the injured girl off to her uncle, having to fill out some medical reports with the doctor. "Take care of Tifa, and don’t let her go too fast! I don’t want those sutures undone!"

Tseng nodded obediently as he slipped his arm around Tifa. "If you want, I could get a wheel chair."

"No," She almost laughed. "Believe it or not, but it hurts a whole lot more to sit right now."

"Okay." He led her slowly toward the detention block. "Once we get down there, I’ll let you talk to Vincent alone, but realize that he is in a cell, and I will not be letting you in."

"I…I understand." She sighed. At least she was relived to know that Vincent hadn’t been put in stasis.

They made the rest of the short trip in silence. When they entered the prison area, Tseng led her to the back cell where he knew Vincent should be. Tseng was somewhat confused to find the keys on the floor and the cuffs still on Vincent.

Tseng left Tifa leaning against the wall and approached his brother first. Vincent still knelt on the floor before the stasis box. "Tsuvati, come here so I can undo the restraints."

Vincent silently obeyed, placing his wrists against the bars so Tseng could unlock them.

Tseng took the cuffs and stepped back. "Tifa is here to talk to you. I’m going to leave for a while."

Vincent continued to lean against the bars as he heard Tseng walk away.

Tifa walked cautiously toward the cage that held Vincent, feeling a strange tension in the air. She stopped and stared at Vincent’s back as he continued to remain motionless. "Vincent?"

He slowly turned around to face her. There was no color in his skin, and its pallor was even further diminished by the perspiration drenching him. His usually flowing hair was stuck to his skin from the dampness and had lost all of its shine. Vincent’s red eyes were lifeless, and not even the faintest glow was to be seen there. He still wore the blood stained shirt he had donned the night before, his bullet wound long since healed. There was a dried trail of blood coming from the left corner of his mouth where Reno had hit him.

Tifa covered her mouth with her hands, terrified by his deathly appearance. "Oh God, what happened to you?"

He stared at her expressionless, not able to respond immediately due to his exhaustion.

She grew even more afraid and reached out to touch him through the bars. "Vincent, please!"

He pulled her hand away from him gently with his claws. "Tifa, don’t."

Tears came to her eyes. The Vincent she had come to love was not here. "Vincent, I don’t blame you! No one does!"

Vincent took one step back as to be out of her reach. "I do."

"Please don’t do this!" She begged, reaching out for him futilely. "I love you!"

He cast his gaze to the ground. "And I you. But that isn’t enough anymore. That demon now owns more of me than I do."

She watched as he pulled the shirt from his body. The lizard skin now covered his entire torso and was starting to creep down his right arm. "Oh Vincent, I’m sorry…"

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Vincent let the shirt fall to the floor beside him. "This is mine to bear. Mine alone. You have done nothing but be kind to me, and look what I have done."

"You didn’t do it! Chaos attacked me, I know that and so does everyone else!" Tifa’s voice wavered from her tears.

Vincent raised his metallic claw and pointed a talon at the stasis box. "This is my punishment. You will no longer be in danger."

Tifa’s eyes fell upon the stasis box, sinking to her knees as she realized what was happening. "Oh God Vincent, please don’t!"

He turned to face the casket and bent down to pull open its lid. A cold fog billowed out from inside as the stasis gases mixed with the air. "I have to go now."

Tifa’s voice raised with her terror. "No, oh please don’t! Vincent, I love you! Don’t leave me! You said you would marry me, remember? Please, please don’t go!"

Vincent looked back at her, the first emotion he’d shown her coming to his face. The abject sadness in his eyes was heart wrenching. "I must. If I cannot be with you, then I can’t continue."

"You can be with me, Vincent!" Tifa said, again trying to reach him through the bars. "I am not afraid! What will I do without you?"

Vincent stepped up into the box, finding it hard to look at Tifa as she came undone. "You will be better off without me. I was a fool to interrupt your life. I have nothing to offer but the promise of more pain and death. That is what I was created for, that is what I am."

Tifa slammed her fists against the bars, causing the whole wall to rattle. "God Damn it, Vincent! Get out of there before it’s too late!"

Vincent sat inside the box, stretching his legs out before him. The feel of the interior was still quite familiar despite the seven years that had elapsed. "It is already too late, Tifa. I love you, and I always will. I can only hope that someone finds a way to get Chaos out of me, and that it is soon enough for you to still be here. I love you, Tifa."

Tifa screamed in pain as he laid back disappearing from view. The last thing she saw of him was his golden arm reach up and bring the lid down on top of his coffin. "Oh God, no! Vincent, no!"

Upon hearing Tifa’s last screams, Tseng re-entered the cellblock. Tifa was little more than a sobbing pile on the floor next to Vincent’s cell. He saw the stasis box as the only thing in Vincent’s cage, and he knew what had happened. Tseng went forward and opened the door to the cell, making his way to the stasis box.

Tifa looked up just in time to see Tseng close a lock on the coffin. "What are you doing?"

It broke Tseng’s heart to face her. "Making sure that he stays in there, or that rather, no one lets him out."

Tifa’s face grew hot with anger. "I hate you! Let him out!"

Tseng stepped back from the box and came back to where Tifa way laying on the floor. "I’m sorry, but I can’t. Not until we find a way to help him."

Tifa struggled to her feet and pounded Tseng in the chest with her clenched fists. "God Damn it, I hate you!"

Tseng put his arms around her as she collapsed sobbing into him. "Tifa, the only way you can help him now is to be strong. It would kill him to know you’re suffering like this."

"Then let him out, please!" Her pitiful plea hurt Tseng more than she could know.

He held her tightly, feeling tears in his own eyes. "I feel no pride in what I have done."