By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Vincent and Tifa retreated to the deck of the airship in order to have a bit of personal time. They stood together in a silent embrace for a very long time but Vincent knew that the two of them needed to talk. So much had happened in the lab that they hadn’t dealt with and he wished to know all that had happened to his wife at the madman’s hands.

Vincent loosened his grip around Tifa’s waist and looked down into her eyes. "If you don’t want to talk about this right now it’s okay, but I need to know what happened to you in the lab."

The corners of Tifa’s mouth immediately pulled down into a frown. "Oh, well nothing compared to what you went through."

"No," Vincent sighed, "the worst part of being in that lab was knowing that he was doing things to you and I couldn’t protect you."

She was a little taken back by his words. How Hojo’s work on her could possibly have been worse than all that which he had suffered personally was beyond her. "Honestly the most difficult thing for me was hearing your screams as he did God knows what to you."

Vincent smiled down at her. They both seemed to have been more disturbed by each other’s situations than their own. "Nonetheless, I want to know what he did to you. I need to know."

Tifa dropped her gaze to the side for a moment and took a step back. "Well, at first he just gave me injections of things to make me ovulate. And then once that happened, he took me into surgery. It hurt afterward, sort of like the worst cramps of my life, but that was about it."

Vincent knew that she was sugar coating her experience but felt that he shouldn’t push her. She would tell him more when she was ready. He reached out and took her hand in his. As he looked down at his metallic hand holding her flesh one. Tears at once burned in his eyes.

Tifa saw the expression on his face and reached up with her other hand and pushed some of his hair back. "Vincent, it’s okay."

He wasn’t able to respond as it was taking all of his strength to hold back the tears that were begging release.

"I know what’s on your mind, and I want you to know that I love you no matter what." She came forward and rested her head upon his shoulder it again. "I don’t care what has been done to you."

Vincent placed his cheek against her hair and closed his eyes for a moment. "But… if it does bother you I’ll understand."

Tifa held him tighter. "No Vincent, don’t even say that. I love you not your body, I wish you could believe that."

He sighed and kept his eyes closed. "I love you so much, I’m just so afraid of losing you."

She laughed quietly to herself. "That seems to be your catch phrase, you know that? I’m gonna say this one more time, and this time I want you to listen. I’m not leaving you, not now, not ever, got it?"

"Got it." Vincent smiled.

The two of them turned when they heard the door to the deck open behind them. They spotted Jaras emerging, his complexion ashen and his expression obviously disturbed.

Jaras offered them a weak smile through his stressed air. "Hey there."

Tifa let go of Vincent and turned so she could face their visitor properly. "Jaras, what’s wrong?"

He came closer to where they were standing, his hands being wrung before nervously. "Well, I went to my quarters to try and read, but my mind started wandering and certain thoughts and memories came up. I just felt like I had to get out here in order to find some sort of distraction."

Vincent’s expression became greatly concerned and he walked directly to his son. "Are you going to be okay?"

He nodded while glancing away. "I think I will be now. I feel better just being out here."

"Jaras?" Tifa went closer too until she was near enough to grasp one of his hands. "Do you need to talk about it?"

Jaras continued to avoid eye contact with either of them. The truth was that his thoughts had been about revenge on Hojo and what had scared him the most was that he realized that if given the chance, he would kill the madman. "It’s about the mission that’s coming up."

"The one to stop Hojo?" Vincent asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes." Jaras finally brought his gaze up to meet his father’s. "Before I discovered who I was, I never thought that I would be capable of harming someone, much less kill them. Now though, I know that if I am faced with that man knowing that all he lead me to do back as Sephiroth, as well as what he did to both of you, and my mother… I would end his life."

"Don’t feel bad, there are a lot of people on this planet who would love to kill that man." Vincent smirked.

"But that’s not the person I thought I was." Jaras’ worry seemed to deepen. "What if killing him opens up the flood gates? What if… what if I discovered that I liked it?"

"That won’t happen." Tifa stated, still maintaining her hold on his hand.

"How do we know?" Jaras shifted where he stood.

Vincent furrowed his brow. "There will be a lot of us on that mission. Chances are that one of the other people there will do it. Why worry about something that you can’t even be sure that will happen? Besides, if anyone has a genuine reasons to kill Hojo, I’m fairly certain its you."

"Perhaps…" Jaras hung his head and pulled his hand from Tifa’s hold although he hated to do it. "I just don’t know what to do. I feel like I am completely out of control of my life and it makes me sick."

"Listen to me." Vincent grew extremely serious. "You are in control of your life. Nothing has to happen to you or by your hand from here on out that you don’t want. Unlike back when you were Sephiroth, you do have a choice. No once can tell you what to do anymore. There is no more Jenova inside you altering your mind. You belong to you, don’t forget it."