Guilt’s Cost: Part LXIX

Reminder

The next day passed without incident. Vincent and Tifa took some time in the afternoon to go up into Costa del Sol and wander the town. No one saw much of Reno, as he was uncharacteristically busy preparing for his wedding. Angel too was scarce as she was fitted for her dress and other things. Tseng continued to improve after his surgery and was able to sit up. His time was spent finalizing the plans for Cloud’s extrication and several informal meetings took place in the infirmary around his bed.

Vincent felt nothing of Chaos within him. Although the demon was still present, he was being suppressed by Vincent’s more intense affection for Tifa. Since nothing was taking place to upset him, Chaos remained in remission, awaiting another chance to take over Vincent’s body.

That evening as Vincent and Tifa prepared for bed, Tifa noticed something different. As Vincent pushed his shirt from his shoulders, he had his back to her. She rose from where she had been sitting and came over to him, examining his back closely.

Vincent looked over his shoulder at her. "What are you doing?"

"This…" She reached out and traced the border between his human skin and that of the demon. "It looks like it has receded or something."

"What?" Vincent went into the bathroom and looked at his back in the mirror. He saw that Tifa was right. The black hue of the reptilian flesh covered less than before he had gone into stasis, and where it had started to snake down his right arm was apparently normal again. "How can that be?"

Tifa stood in the doorway and stared at him with a smile on her lips. "What do you think is going on?"

Vincent continued to examine himself in the mirror. He remembered feeling something strange when he and Tifa had been reunited after his short stasis. Then again, this could just be a side effect of the stasis itself, as he hadn’t displayed any of the demon’s skin when he had first emerged from stasis seven years before. "I don’t know."

Tifa’s optimism didn’t fade. "And you haven’t felt anything from him since coming out the other day, have you?"

"No." Vincent finally turned away from the mirror. He flicked the light off in the bathroom and went out to sit on the bed.

Tifa came and sat beside him. "Maybe he’s going away."

Vincent smiled at her and shook her head. "I doubt it would be that easy. I think it’s more of a time off than anything else. I hate to say it, but he’ll probably be back. I wouldn’t be half surprised if he popped out tomorrow just to take off Reno’s head as he walks down the aisle with Angel."

Tifa slapped him in the shoulder. "Vincent!"

"Sorry." He hung his head. "I promise not to kill anyone at the wedding."

"Including Reno?" She joked.

"Yes, including Reno." Vincent laughed to himself. "She could have done worse, right? It’s not like she’s marrying someone really awful."

"Like who?" Tifa couldn’t help herself.

"Let’s see…" He was thoughtful for a moment. "How about Cid?"

She hit him again. "Vincent Valentine! Cid is a perfectly wonderful man."

"Except for the time that he kicked me in the back and made me crack my head open on the Highwind." He narrowed his eyes, but allowed the smile to remain.

"Okay, except for that." Tifa shrugged. "You’d have been proud of how he talked to me while you were in stasis. He helped me a lot."

Vincent donned a false glare. "What do you mean by that?"

"He was just there for me." Tifa remembered the night Jaras kissed her and how Cid had taken care of her, but the memory forced her to confess. "Oh, can I tell you something?"

Vincent put his human arm around her shoulders. "Of course."

"Well, after we got back here from Mideel, Jaras kissed me." Tifa hung her head in shame, afraid of Vincent’s reaction.

Vincent sat silent for a moment. Her news didn’t have the impact that one would have expected. "And?"

"And that’s it. I told him that we couldn’t do that kind of thing because I love you, and he backed off." Tifa still couldn’t look at him.

"You really said that you couldn’t because you love me?" Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Tifa gave him a quick sidelong glance.

Vincent grinned. "You know, you go around telling people that you love me and they’re going to start to believe it."

Tifa’s eyes went wide. "You’re not mad?"

"No." Vincent flipped his cybernetic hand. "You told him to back off before anything happened, so what’s there to be mad about? Now if you slept with him before telling him off I might be a little more concerned."

"Vincent!" She belted him for a third time in the same shoulder. "I wouldn’t do that."

"Quit it!" Vincent covered his exposed shoulder with his metallic hand. "You kiss some other guy and I get hit?"

"Sorry." Tifa cowered slightly.

He turned and threw both of his arms around her. "No, I’m sorry. Putting myself into that box hurt you, and I apologize. It was just the thought of harming you again… It was all I could think of to do to keep Chaos away from you."

"I know." She nuzzled into his chest. "But that’s over now and you’re here. We can fight Chaos together. You don’t let him harm me, and I won’t let him take you from me. Deal?"

He smiled. "Deal."

Tifa finally backed out of his embrace and laid down on the bed. "Hey, Vincent?"

He turned off the lights in the room and laid down beside her. "What?"

"You do remember what you said in Wutai?" She asked.

"What’s that?" Vincent looked at her in the darkness.

"The part about asking for me to marry you?" Tifa pulled the blankets around her closer.

Vincent turned his gaze up to the ceiling. "Yes, but I guess with Cloud still being alive that’s off."

"No, it’s not." Tifa said quietly.

"But technically you’re still married." Vincent clenched his cybernetic hand into a fist.

Tifa heard the dull whir of his metal claw powering up and knew that he was disturbed. "No, we’re not."

He stared back at her. "What do you mean?"

A brief smile flashed across her lips. "I had Zale tap into the government records computer system and now according to them, that marriage was terminated on the day he tried to kill himself."

"Why did you do that?" Vincent was both pleased and confused.

"Because it was over." Tifa sighed. "And now I’m free to do whatever I wish."

Vincent thought briefly about the few hours that Tifa had disappeared earlier in the day and knew that she had done more than just divorce herself from Cloud. "What else were you up to this morning?"

In the darkness Vincent couldn’t see her blush. "Some things. By the way, you’re in the wedding party so we have to get you fitted for a tux tomorrow before it starts."

Vincent narrowed his eyes. "I don’t remember being invited to be a part of this."

Tifa had to lie. "I just found out this morning when I went with Angel to get her dress fitted. She told me to let you know because Reno was too afraid to ask you."

Vincent picked up on the falseness within her voice. Tifa had always been a terrible liar. "Oh really?"

She knew he was calling her on her deception. "Really."

"You aren’t trying to trick me into marrying you tomorrow after Reno and Angel’s wedding?" Vincent’s heart raced.

"Why would I do that?" Tifa rolled over to face away from him disappointed that he had pegged it.

"Tifa, I asked you to marry me, it doesn’t mean that we have to do it now." Vincent looked back up at the ceiling again. As much as he wanted to have her legally tied to his side, he thought that she really should think it over a little longer before making such a serious commitment to him.

"But I want to!" Tifa sat up. "I have been trapped in a marriage with a man that didn’t love me for seven years, and now I want to see what it’s like to be married to someone that does. I love you, Vincent, and that’s good enough for me. Don’t you want this?"

He sat up as well. "I… yes, I would like this, but I don’t want you to rush into anything you’re not ready for."

"Look mister, if there is anything that I have learned since you came and got me out of New Nibleheim, it’s that I can no longer ignore my feelings. I did that with Cloud, pretending that I was happy when I wasn’t and look where that got me. Now, my heart says to grab onto you and not let go, and that is what I intend to do. I felt what it was like to lose you when you entered that stasis chamber, and that is something I never want to feel again. Besides, I saved you with a blood transfusion so you owe me." Tifa flared with fake anger.

Vincent raised his arms up defensively. "Okay, you seem to have made up your mind. I’ll go along with the plan."

"Good, because I spent a lot of time with Angel last night after you fell asleep working this thing out, and she’s just as excited as I am." Tifa laid back down. "She would have been pretty upset if you backed out."

Vincent laughed to himself. Never in a million years did Vincent Valentine think he would be getting married. "I just have one question."

Tifa smiled up at him. "What?"

He held his cybernetic left hand out in front of him. "Where am I supposed to wear a wedding ring? It’s just going to fall back off."

"You do have a perfectly good right hand, you know." Tifa had already thought of this as well. "And I already managed to figure out your ring size when you were sleeping."

The fact that she had gotten away with so much the night before was unsettling. "Is there anything else that you might like to let me know you did last night?"

Tifa laughed. "Go to sleep, Vincent. You have a big day ahead of you."