"Get off me, Vincent!" Shera squeaked, trying to wrench his mechanical arm off her neck. Her feet weren’t touching the floor and she couldn’t kick him hard enough. She wanted to jab him with her elbow, but she couldn’t with this hand and her other one was pinned down by his elbow.
Vincent said nothing, his metal hand traced slowly across her neck again, and this time she knew he was drawing blood.
"I SAID, GET OFF!" she yelled.
No change.
"Cid!" She yelled. "Cid, help me!"
Cid burst into the room, nearly bashing the door off one of it’s hinges.
"Cid, hel—"
Vincent’s hand closed over her throat tighter.
"You put her down right now!" Cid screamed.
Vincent raised his gun with his good hand, still holding down one of Shera’s arms with his elbow.
"Don’t you fucking dare!" Cid yelled. "Knock it off right now or I’m going to hit you so hard—"
Vincent lowered the gun and threw Shera at the wall. She crashed into it and her chest of drawers, smashing a lamp in the process.
The chest was smashed slightly and fell over, her clothes spilling on the floor. He leg was pinned under it. Sharp pieces of pottery and glass were everywhere. She was bleeding. She wasn’t getting up. She was breathing. She was alive.
Cid turned back to Vincent and swore.
Vincent stood there. There was no expression on Vincent’s face, no poise to his stance, he didn’t even blink.
"You give him back right now, you hear me? You hear me you damn ugly parasite?"
Vincent raised the gun at Cid with two hands, confirming Cid’s belief. Vincent never used two hands, even on his Death Penalty. Nevertheless, Vincent cocked the gun.
Cid was in a rage. He wasn’t stupid, there was only one explanation for a bottle of year old cleaner dumped down the stairs. Vincent had tried the one thing he’d never forgive him for; the one thing that could make him hate him more than if he lit the Highwind on fire. He grabbed the gun before Vincent could pull the trigger and broke it over his leg. "Vincent, you fuckhead! You hear me! I told you not to even think about that!" Cid threw the pieces behind him, then realized the one he was really angry at. The damn alien probably tried to make him do it before changing her mind. "Give him back to me!"
Vincent glared at him angrily.
"Don’t even try it! You’re not getting away with this, ‘cause you know why? You’re not Vincent! You fucking give him back! Now don’t you make me kick you in the nuts!"
Vincent didn’t even blink before he lunged at Cid.
Cid managed to punch Vincent in the face before he was tackled and they were both on the floor, rolling around, each trying to pin the other. Cid was just trying to keep Vincent’s hands away from his neck.
Suddenly, just as Cid was about to try and roll over, Vincent stopped. He screamed, almost shrieking. There was something in his eyes once again; Cid saw it long enough to stop trying to fight him before Vincent closed his eyes.
Vincent tried to yank his hands away and grab his head.
Then there was another abrupt change. Vincent went into a seizure, shaking violently. He clumsily reached out to Cid, trying to take hold of his wrist, with a shaking hand. He twitched and grabbed air, as if he were blind. Vincent was choking and struggling for breath. His eyes opened, seeming to flicker between vacant and scared. His choking stopped, but he couldn’t breathe. Blood burbled between his lips and trickled down his chin.
He was still except for his shaking and then even that stopped. He made once last twitch for Cid’s wrist, and then was perfectly still.
Cid gasped, too afraid to move, watching Vincent’s eyes.
The blood dripped down from his chin and splattered on Cid’s shirt.
"SHIT!" Cid yelled so loudly he didn’t hear the banging on the front door. He rolled over, putting Vincent on the ground and his head on Vincent’s chest. He held his breath as he listened. No heartbeat.
"Damnit, you are not doing this to me, you hear?" Cid yelled and took a deep breath. He tilted Vincent’s head back gently and pinched his nose. He put his mouth on Vincent’s exhaled. Twice.
There were people on the stairs, but he didn’t care. "YOU—ARE—FUCKING—GONNA—LIVE!" Cid yelled, pushing so hard on Vincent’s chest he snapped a rib.
"Shit!" Cid said, again hearing no heartbeat. He continued, not noticing the other people in the room. Two surrounded Shera and shouted something.
Another shoved him away and two others had to drag him away, as he protested loudly.
It took him half a minute to realize who these people were and why they were pulling him away from Vincent. He was about to punch one on the face as he realized what was happening. They were taking Vincent away, yelling things he already knew; that he wasn’t breathing that there must be internal damage, that there was no heartbeat.
As Cid became aware of the rest of the world, he shoved a hand away from his head to look at Shera. They were taking her away too. She was bleeding all over her face and her leg didn’t look right.
He flinched as someone touched his shoulder painfully, punching someone in the face. "OWW! That hurt, goddamnit! What the fuck’s going on? Get them, not me! Ow! What’s that noise?"
"Sir," someone said, trying to calm him down. "Sir, you’re lady friend is fine. She’s just unconscious. We’ve got machines in the trucks for him; we’ll do the best we can. Here." the person handed Cid Vincent’s PHS, which was ringing loudly. Cid wondered why he hadn’t heard it at first. "Here, they had to take this from your friend’s pocket. You can answer it while you come with us,"
Cid stood up slowly and answered the PHS. "Hello?" he asked, his voice almost breaking. The doctors led him down the stairs.
"Hello? Vincent? Who’s this?"
"It’s me…" Cid said. He felt too strange to swear. It was like everything was wavering between a dream and reality. Too many things were happening at once.
"Cid? Tell Vincent to recharge the batteries. The connection’s bad. Is Vincent there? I wanted to tell him we killed Jenova. Hello? Cid? This thing still working?"
"He’s…" Cid started. "…He’s not here right now." Cid hung up and followed the paramedics. He heard sirens. The ambulances had already left.