Vincent Valentine x Reader

#1

"Tifa, Marlene! Go inside!"
Deepgroud Soldiers appeared out of nowhere. It's only noon. Today did not seem different from other days. They were just preparing the bar to open. Tifa and Claire and Marlene. Only three of them.
But now, Someone had to stop the Soldiers and the other had to protect Marlene.
'It has to be done. There's no other way.' Claire gritted her teeth.

"Clarie! What do you think you're doing!" Tifa shouted. Even though she knew someone had to stop the Soldiers, that didn't mean it had to be Claire. Tifa tried to stop her.

"You have Marlene! Hurry! Go!"
Claire didn't even bother to look back. Tifa hesitated just a bit and then nodded, hurrying to go upstairs with Marlene to keep her safe.

*

Tifa couldn't believe what just happened. Claire turned into a ferocious Behemoth and whipped her tail. Deepground Soldiers seemed nothing compared to her. Right after she struck down the Soldiers, Vincent came in. He was utterly taken aback by the view. But he, soon, grasped the situation. He held his gun and pulled the trigger.

"Vincent! No! Don't shoot! It's Claire!"
Tifa exclaimed. But It's too late. Few bullets of Cerberus already got stuck inside her body.

"What...?"
His confused voice rang across the bar. In front of him, there were only corpses of Deepground Soldiers and a behemoth. It was bleeding badly, no, she was bleeding badly. Her body turned back to an original form. Vincent froze.
'Was it really her?' He felt as if time had stood still.

"Tifa! Is she okay? She's bleeding!"
Marlene cried out loud from upstairs. She was about to burst into tears. She ran to Claire who was lying on the floor, barely breathing. Vincent was only watching. He felt useless.

"Sweetie, she will be fine. Just go to your room and call Cloud, okay?"
Tifa said, checking her wounds. She was seriously injured. Cure materia wouldn't help right now.

"Tifa, what's going on? How..."
Vincent started, trying to understand what's going on.

"I don't know, either... Deepground Soldiers appeared out of nowhere. Then, she told us to hide and then, she was transformed into a Behemoth. We don't have time, Vincent. She's bleeding a lot."

"I'll take her to WRO."
Vincent held her tightly in his arms. There's no time to waste.

*

"I can't believe she's still alive with these serious wounds. Well, she will wake up soon."
Shalua said. She seemed impressed that Claire was still breathing.

"Thanks, Shalua."
Vincent stated, not looking at her. He felt guilty of what he's done to her. One more sin to be burdened on his shoulders.

"You knew that already?"
Shaula said, adjusting her glasses. She was absorbed in some chart in her hands.

"Knew what?"
Vincent finally looking at her. She stopped flipping the chart. Then, she stopped walking around to face Vincent Valentine.

"She is the last shapeshifter. Even though most of the data about shapeshifters were discarded, it was well-known among the scientists in Shinra that Hojo performed some kind of experiments on shapeshifters, which means shapeshifters become extinct. Well, I thought they were."
She tapped her pen on the chart, saying nonchalantly.

"I... I didn't know."
Vincent looked down. She didn't tell him -us- anything about her. Despite of the years they've known each other, Vincent was totally ignorant of her.

"Hmph, okay. I'm leaving. Call me if something's wrong."
She walked out of the room. Vincent was just sitting at the chair beside the bed where Claire was lying. There's nothing he could do. He had to wait until she's awake.