Blood & Sympathy (FFVII: Vincent x OC)

Ch29 - Captive

Jocasta eyed the machinery around Tifa’s bed. She checked on the pulse, the bags filled nutrients that she had attached the young girl with. They provided her body with all the energy she needed to keep her alive. It had almost been a week and the team was separated in different rooms in the Shinra Base in Junon. They were restrained at all times so that nobody could escape.

She couldn’t stop the never-ending worry that gathered with a lump on her throat. She hadn’t seen Vincent those seven days. She only hoped that no one had laid a finger on him. Not just Vincent, she was worried about everyone in their team. The only reason Rufus would have his cadets letting her out of her cell was to take care of Tifa or anyone else who needed medical treatment. It looked like Jocasta was the only doctor around ever since Hojo disappeared in the Crater.

She heaved another sigh as she gazed outside the window of the room. The sky had been orange for the past seven days. Night and morning could no longer be discriminated with that giant orb, burning in the sky, getting brighter and brighter the closer it reached. It looked huge. Bigger than she’d like to admit.

She knew that when it’d reach its destination, the Planet, it would instantly wipe out the human race just by the impact. She’d lost all hope in the last few days. There was no way they could reverse what happened. She couldn’t think of any way they could stop it.

And then Jocasta turned at Tifa. She had been lying on the hospital bed unconscious for the entire week and it drove her insane not knowing why. She’d mumble things in her sleep. Things like Cloud’s name, her hands, her feet, her body would jerk as if she was having a nightmare.

Nightmares. Jocasta sat back on her bench beside Tifa’s bed. She hadn’t slept, not even once in these seven days. Vincent wasn’t with her, and the nightmares would come crawling back to her.

“I got what I wanted!”

Hojo’s voice was fresh in her mind and it only made her wonder what he’d done to him. To Vincent. Hojo was up to something. Something that could be anything but good.

She sighed. There was no point for whatever he planned. The world was going to end once Meteor would reach the surface of the Planet. The crater was covered in a greenish barrier ever since. There was no doubt that Sephiroth was hiding behind. Jocasta clenched her fingers. And Cloud? Nobody knew where he was. Nobody was out looking for him. She didn’t want to admit it… but he could be dead. He couldn’t have survived. Not when the Weapon is around, spreading chaos.

But Rufus had sent his troops to fight it. The new President of Shinra was certainly nothing like his father.

Jocasta’s eyes snapped at the unconscious girl when she heard the machines beeping. Tifa’s eyes opened and she tried to move her hands and her feet. Her muscles didn’t respond right away. It was a normal side-effect when someone’s bed-ridden for days.

Jocasta approached her, placing a hand on Tifa’s shoulder and pushing her back down on the bed “Whoah, whoah! You need to take it easy…” Jocasta said.

Tifa relaxed back down on the soft mattress as her eyes found Jocasta. She’d been typing something on the computers around her and then she approached her detaching the needles and tubes from her wrists.

“W- what’s going on?” Tifa asked confusedly.

“You’ve been in a comatose state for seven days…” Jocasta said “…don't worry about the needles. I had to provide your body some energy somehow,”