Blood & Sympathy (FFVII: Vincent x OC)

Ch103 - The End of the World Pt. 2

Jocasta looked all around her. The smell of smoke reached her nostrils and caught her throat and stole her breath away. She coughed. Her hand reached her face, the other clutched on her stomach. Pain radiated from her belly as she landed on it. She didn't care about her head that buzzed. She couldn't hear, she couldn't make out the battle-cries, the bombs that fell all over the place, the gunfire. All she thought about was her baby. Had she lost it? An impact like this could've killed it. Maybe that was the pain that she felt.

She rolled on her back and she let out a cry of pain. No one was going to hear her. She didn't care to be heard. She was in pain. She was terrified. Both her hands clutched in her belly. She touched the blood that had trickled out and coloured her clothes. No... no, no, no, no... Her mind drifted to the worst and the pain was harsh enough to make her eyes water. She shut her eyes putting up with the pain for a minute or two.

She looked at the other members of the team. Cid, Tifa, Cloud, the Turks. They had all fallen. The explosion had casted them all away. The sky was grey. It was night. The day had ended. Another day of war. The snow had melted, but it was still cold on her back. Her hand fisted around the soil.

Her vision cleared out as she spotted Vincent. He was lying unconsciously with his back on the soil. She looked up. Sephiroth was still fighting. Tseng too was on his feet, shooting endlessly at the soldiers that rushed towards them. The WRO squads were already lying dead on the hard, cold ground. Cloud was holding Tifa's unconscious body. Barret was firing endless bullets in all directions.

Genesis Copies where everywhere with red-bladed swords in their hands, slicing whatever was left of the WRO soldiers and crushing their swords with Sephiroth who was fighting three of them at the time on his own. His men had fallen. Barret was trying to help him fight them off but they were severely outnumbered.

Jocasta wanted to stand up. She wanted to fight. She wanted to help them, but she couldn't move. She couldn't stand. She could do nothing but crawl close to him. Crawl close to Vincent. She winced and writhed and cried out in pain. Her fingers clutched on the hard soil as she rolled on her stomach. She let out another cry of pain. It hurt. It hurt. But it didn't matter. She had to reach him. She had to know if he was alive or not. He had pushed her out of the way. He had saved her life. She didn't about their child, though. But she didn't want to know the consequences of him falling in the way. She didn't.

She reached him. Another explosion went off nearby. The soil landed on their bodies along with the ashes. Her head buzzed again. Her ears, unable to handle the large sounds. The pain on her stomach worsened as she tried to sit up beside him. She winced and trembled but she made it. She pushed Vincent's unconscious body on her lap and she looked down at him. He had burn marks everywhere.

Her fingers reached for his dusted cheek. A large cut spread across it that had stopped bleeding. His face, pale, unmoving. Her mind wandered to the worst. Her hand cupped his face. She didn't want to check on his pulse. If he was dead, then she'd suffer losing her husband and their child at the same day.

But she cried anyway. She couldn't lose them both. She couldn't. One hand clutched around her abdomen, the other on his cheek. She pressed her forehead against his and she breathed shakily against his lips.

She looked at the Genesis Copies that had taken down Sephiroth and Barret. They couldn't stand on their own against so many of them. They were heading for them now. They were rushing with their swords tight in their hands, ready to kill them. Kill them all.

"Jocasta..." Vincent's voice barely came out. It caught her attention away from the army that rushed towards them to slaughter them. His hand reached shakily for her cheek. He coughed. Blood slipped out of his mouth and he coughed again. Harshly. His body shook. She gritted her teeth. She looked down at him. A large piece of metal was pierced from his back and protruded from his belly. She sobbed. Tears slipped down her cheeks.

"No..." she shook her head.

She refused to believe it. She refused to believe the seriousness of the damage. That piece of metal was large. Large enough to have sliced anything on its way. More tears slipped down her cheeks and she forgot the pain on her abdomen right away. Both her hands found his shirt as she leaned down and wept against his chest. She had lost so much already. How could she bear to lose him? How could she bear to lose them both in the same day?

It was so unfair. So unfair. She looked at the army that was only a few steps away. A wave of weakness washed over her. But no, she had to focus on Vincent. She had to focus on saving him and herself and her friends that were lying unconscious with an army on their tail. She tried to think. Think of a solution. Think for anything. Anything that would save them. She couldn't fight. She couldn't stand. The pain was intense. The Genesis Copies, too many. Tears slipped down her cheeks. Helpless. For once again in her life she was helpless. A feeling she had felt so many times, she loathed it.

"Jocasta..." Vincent's voice came again and she looked back down at him. His bloody hand reached shakily for her cheek. Her hand reached for his, supporting it on her cheek. Another sob reached her throat. It choked her. Her tears spilled on his face. His thumb brushed warm on her face, wiping her tears. "...focus on me." He said and she was more than willing to do that.

But there was an entire army of them rushing their way. Her eyes couldn't help slipping that way, but his hand brought her attention back to him. If this was the end, he wanted to spend it with her. If this was the end, he wanted to be by her side.

"We go down... together..." He tried to let out, but the blood flooded his mouth, and he felt this weakness. Weakness that he felt whenever he was losing blood. He knew that feeling. He knew the world was ending. He knew everybody had fallen and it was now their turn.

But she shook her head "I don't want this to end like that," she wept.

He shook his head. A tear slipped down his own cheek "I'm sorry that... w- we didn't get enough time to... to..." another tear slipped down his cheek and it hurt. It hurt knowing that there were so many things that they had yet to do. They'd never get to watch their baby grow. They'd never get to spend a lifetime by each other's side. By their friends' side. They'd never get to watch Cid and Shera parenting their son, or Sephiroth and Hester be happy, or Cloud and Tifa get married and embrace their own happily ever after.

He didn't want it to end that way either. He wanted to spend whatever they had left with her. He wanted to spend an eternity with her. But right now, they didn't have that. It was so unfair. They had fought so many things to get there. They had just gotten married. They had just gotten their happiness back only to have it snatched away again, and again. A never-ending circle. Maybe they were indeed never meant for this. Happy Endings do not exist after all.

"With you... it was the happiest I've ever been," His thumb found her lips. His eyes rested on hers, warmly and lovingly. She pressed her forehead against his and her hand reached for his own cheek. He smiled, weakly.

She kissed his thumb. She breathed shakily "Me too, Vincent... I love you," she shook her head "...I love you so much,"

"I love you too, Jocasta..." he said and then he noticed a Genesis Copy ready to slice her head off. He pulled her face down against his chest. She didn't have to watch this. He too shut his eyes and his hands tightened around her.

Her fingers clenched on his shoulders and she nuzzled her face in his neck. He buried his face in her hair and breathed her in one last time. They had been through so many things but when they got married, he expected that... that'd be it. That'd be the end. That they would finally have some peace.

And when the news came up that they would become parents... Oh what wouldn't he give to go back to that day and tell her he loved her once again, because it never really felt enough. She had probably lost their baby now. There was nothing else left but to lose each other.

Now they both shut their eyes and they waited. They waited.

They waited for the end.

The End.