Blood & Sympathy (FFVII: Vincent x OC)

Ch43 - Unexpected

Jocasta felt the faint touch of light over her eyelids and she began to stir. She drew in a deep breath as her hand reached for her forehead and she winced at the insistent ache that gathered there. She opened her eyes and she recognized the room she was in. It was her room in the Highwind. Her gaze slipped all around it before she remembered what happened.

She looked down at her leg which was wrapped in a tight bandage but she knew her fractured bones would have already healed. Sometimes she was grateful for injecting herself with all those chemicals back in the day. They worked wonders when it came to fixing wounds. But they weren't as good as her perfected serum. The one she had used to fix Vincent's bullet wound a few days ago.

She groaned as she reminded herself that Meteor was still coming. How in the hell are we supposed to stop that? Even if the Huge Materias were in that rocket, Meteor was too large for any kind of explosives. Nothing could stop it.

And then she thought about Vincent. Was he okay? She only guessed that since she was there, they had made it out of that escape pod and the Highwind had come to pick them up from whenever on Gaia they had landed. She had probably passed out when that happened.

Vincent and Jocasta hadn't talked after that little fight they had a few nights ago. So many things had been going on, they hadn't gotten the time. Jocasta only hoped that blurting out like that about how much Lucrecia had fucked up, hadn't ruined whatever they had between them. Jocasta sighed. It probably has. But was there anything between them at all? She still wasn't sure. But he hadn't stopped being overprotective. He hadn't hesitated to pick her up when she sprained her ankle and most possibly fractured her knee when that pile of metal landed on top of her.

She was grateful for that. She was grateful that he was there no matter how painful their relationship could be. No matter their differences. "You weren't there, Vincent! You weren't there to see what Hojo did..."

Jocasta groaned as she recalled the memory of their fight. Her hand reached for her forehead and rubbed gently her temples. She knew he couldn't be there, because he was suffering the torture of a specimen, tied in a lab. It wasn't his fault that she had no one to help her back in the day, and it felt wrong giving him the blame. But she didn't think before spilling these words out. Not when he still tried to excuse Lucrecia's actions after everything she had done.

But maybe, she did have to apologize. She knew how much of a mess he was. She shouldn't mess him up even more. She was supposed to be there for him just like he was for her. She nodded when she reached her decision. She was going to apologize the moment she'd see him.

Jocasta sat up and she started untying those bandages around her leg and her ankle. She moved her leg, finally free of the restraints, making sure that she felt no pain. She let out a sigh of relief when she felt no pain at all. Her chemicals had worked well on the bones and the tendons, though they take a little bit more time to fix these, unlike her perfected serum that could fix anything instantly. Except scars. She had tried.

She tried to stand off the bed but then the door of her room opened and Tifa walked in with a tray in her hands. There was a mug of coffee and a plate with a sandwich. The mere smell of these made Jocasta's stomach gurgle hungrily, reminding her that she hadn't eaten anything for the past few days.

When Tifa saw her ready to stand up, she hastily set the tray on the bed beside her and placed both hands on Jocasta's shoulders trying to keep her from standing.

"No, no, no!! Take it easy! Alford said you would need days!" Tifa said alarmingly, but she relaxed when Jocasta settled back down.

Jocasta chuckled "A normal person would take weeks. Don't worry about me though," she reassured her.