Sanguis Jus Soli

Midgar
Hospital, Residential District
9:00 AM

“Will he live?” Vincent asked the white haired old man looking over Cloud's body. The Doctor nodded to himself and jotted down some notes on his pad. As he looked over the notes, Vincent sighed and sat down next to the bed; noticing a phone placed right next to it.

“Are calls allowed?” Vincent asked. The Doctor nodded and continued filling out the blank spaces on the chart. Picking up the receiver, he tried to remember Eight Heaven's number. 'Wasn't it something with 4667?'

Unable to remember exactly, he snapped open his PHS and the Doctor immediately muttered, “No cell phones allowed, sir; please turn it off.”

Vincent nodded, “I will in a moment. I only need to look up a number stored in this thing.” The doctor shrugged, “Just don't make any calls.”

Quickly scanning through the phone's memory, Vincent found the number and dialed it on the land line. It rang twice and then a drunken girl responded, “Whud'ya wan?”

Vincent paused for a moment, surprised to hear Tifa drunk, and responded, “Come down to the Hospital. He is recovering.”

“Eh? Cwoud's arright?”

“No, not quite. But he'll pull through they think.”

“Why'dya shoot 'em Vin?”

Vincent's eyes furrowed, “I did what had to be done.”

“Ya alwayz had somezin against him didn't ya Vin?”

“This is not the time, Tifa. Inform Barret that if he wishes to see Cloud we are in the West wing of the Infirmary.”

“I aint tellin' nobody nuthin'.”

“Very well; then I shall come and drag you both over here.”

He hung up the phone and sighed in aggravation. The doctor smirked, “Family troubles?”

Vincent rose to his feet and walked to the window, “I suppose you could say so. By the way doctor, do you mind if I go retrieve my drunken companions from their sorrow?”

The doctor shrugged, “It's fine with me but visiting hours are from ten til nine. We have a grace period for new arrivals but they'd have to be back here in forty minutes.”

“Very well. They will be here before that time.”

The doctor looked up from his pad as he heard the window open. “Hey now,” the doctor yelled, “What the hell are you doing?”

Vincent looked back to the doctor and shrugged nonchalantly, “I'm grabbing my friends. I shall return in twenty minutes, be ready for me.”

“Hey wait a minute, you can't go out that way!” The doctor screamed as Vincent stepped out onto the frame and the short brick just after it. Vincent turned his head towards the doctor and smiled. “Don't worry, I've done this quite a few times. I'll be just fine.”

Vincent Valentine then hurled himself off the brick and out of the doctor's sight. “Holy shit!” The doctor yelled as he ran to the window and looked down. Vincent sped towards the ground and grabbed a light pole as he neared the pavement. Metal screeched as his metal prosthetic ripped into the metal; slowing his descent.

“Well I'll be damned...” The doctor said to himself as Vincent gently jumped off the lightpole and charged across the street, hurling himself up, around, over, and through cars' open windows and trucks. An eighteen wheeler flew towards Vincent, he leapt forward, spun in the air, impacted on the roof of the cab, and then dented it slightly as he pushed off into the air again; landing on the roof of a nearby building.

In awe, the doctor could only laugh once. “Damn heroes; they're gonna get themeslves killed one of these days.”

He checked his chart to make sure it was right, placed it in the casing at the foot of the bed and shook his head. “And to think, I just started my shift twenty minutes ago. I've already got heroes coming to visit an injured companion.”

Vincent's cloak fluttered about him as he stomped across the buildings, leaping and somersaulting his way to Eighth Heaven. 'Five minutes,' he guessed.

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Tifa Lockheart stared at the alcohol for a while before she drank it. The yellow, sticky fire that now had coated the back of her throat entirely, was a golden saviour when she needed something to take Cloud off her mind. Barret stood by with a concerned expression on his face.

“Y'know, I'm all for drinkin' in dis bar. But dammit Tifa, I don't want ya gettin' plastered just cuz Cloud's hurt. He'll be fine, dammit.”

Tifa laughed in reply. “Oh? He's gonna be *fine*, is he?” She hurled the glass at Barret. Barret dodged the glass and let it smash into the wall behind him; exploding the thing harmlessly on the glass mirror.

Scowling, she continued, “When's 'e ever ben fine?”

“Tifa—don't do this to yourself. It's not your fault and Vincent's already called so that must mean that he's fine.”

“Yeh, shure—like I believe a deemon.” She grabbed another nearby glass and chugged it down like it was nothing; trying to forget everything around her.

“Dammit Tifa stop it! This is Vincent you're talkin' 'bout!”

“Vincent cun die an' go ta hell.”

The door to the bar swung open and Vincent sighed, “I'm afraid it's a rather mundane place; Hell.”

Without so much as a care for what Tifa thought, he grabbed her off the bar and held her in his arms. She screamed and pounded his chest uselessly, “Vincunt, put me down, you fuck!”

Vincent sighed, “Is she always vulgar when she's drunk?”

“Fuck no. She's just mad as a hornet; that's why--”

“Put me DOWN asshole!” Tifa yelled as she kicked him in the head. Vincent growled and closed his eyes.

“Tifa, you will cease this childish mannerism or I will treat you as a child; I'm taking you to the Hospital and you will comfort Cloud.”

Tifa's eyes raged in unstoppable flames, “Oh yah? I did somethin' to him! He went insane cuz I did somethin' to him the night and night before! I fucked 'em! I fucked 'em good and that changed 'em! If yure so smart you'd think ta not bring me to 'em and get 'em insane like that again!”

Vincent sighed and pinched her neck in a particular spot. She struggled and screamed a bit and then fell limp. “Sorry, Tifa. Iy is for your own, as well as Cloud's own, good that you be with him while he's hurt.”

Barret raised an eyebrow, “I guess they really did fuck like rabbits after all.”

Vincent shrugged, “Not surprising; they're obviously lovers.”

“What the—how the fuck did you know Vincent? You a pervert or somethin'?”

Vincent shrugged, “It is not my fault that I have very sensitive hearing. It was not as if they were trying to remain quiet two nights ago; I was paying my respects to Aerith and when I got there I heard Cloud---screaming with much exuberance.”

“She was hurtin' him?!”

Vincent sighed and shook his head, “No. Quite the opposite. Come on already, Barret, we're burning daylight here standing around and talking anyway.” With that, Vincent turned and left the bar; whistling down a Taxi.

Barret followed and clambored into the Taxi. The taxi driver didn't bat one eye at the girl in Vincent's arms. “Drunk, eh?”

Vincent nodded, “Yes. Take us to the Shin-Ra Hospital.”

The taxi driver paused for a moment, then placed his arm on the front seat as he looked back at his passengers. “Look, I can get you there, but there's a wreck at the Hospital. Some idiot toppled an eighteen wheeler. Said something about a demon knocking his rear-view mirror off which caused him to crash into a truck while he was snatchin' it off the floorboard. Crazy people these days, huh?”

Vincent grimaced, “How much would it cost for you to take a faster route?”

The driver smirked, “Depends on how fast you wanna get there, buddy.”

“Ten minutes.”

The taxi driver had heard a lot of difficult requests before but Vincent's topped the cake. “You want to get from here to there in *ten* *minutes*?” The driver's eyebrows were raised high in amusement, “You gotta be kiddin' me bud. Even if I sped the whole way, I could barely manage thirty minutes.”

Vincent smirked, “Name your price.”

The taxi driver smirked, “Three thousand, plus fare.”

Reaching into his pocket, Vincent produced a check and signed it off to the Taxi driver. Grabbing the check, he noticed the name at the top and laughed, “This is a joke right? You can't really be Vincent Valentine.”

“How would you like me to prove my identity, taxi?”

The taxi driver thought for a moment and smiled wide. With a sparkle of amusement in his eyes he started, “Well, there's this place I get my subs?” Vincent nodded, urging the man onwards.

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“Good afternoon,” the woman behind the counter said with a bored tone. Vincent walked up to the counter, knocked on it to get the woman's attention and sighed as he asked, “I heard you ran a fan-club focusing around one Vincent Valentine?”

Her body shook slightly as she slowly looked up to see V.V. Staring back with an amused expression. She ripped her glasses off, cleaned them, shook her head, put them back on, and he was still there.

“Yes, I'm really here,” Vincent said cooly, “The taxi driver says you owe him one and I need you to verify my identity please. He doesn't seem to believe that I'm really Vincent Valentine.”

Wanting something badly to remember Vincent by, the woman smirked and rose her eyebrows, “Really? Well I'm not too sure either Mr. Valentine. Why don't you prove it to me?”

Vincent sighed, “I don't have time for this.”

“Well, it wont take too long. I promise.”

“Alright, what do you want me to do? Shoot the bottles off the wall, show you my claw arm, or my signature?”

She giggled, “Oh please, Vincent. I'm much more civilized than those slobbering girls in my club you know. No, I would like a kiss, please.”

Vincent's eyes bulged. 'She wants *what* to prove my identity?'

“A kiss!” She said with a grin that could swallow the world, “Just one kiss and I'll prove your identity.”

Glancing over at the clock Vincent grunted. 'Twenty minutes left. I even gave myself five minutes leverage and still it's down to the wire. Great.'

Looking back at the woman, he nodded and she walked around and out of the counter. Standing in front of him, she waited.

Uncomfortably, Vincent quickly leaned over and pecked her lips. “Okay, let's go.”

She frowned and snorted, “Please. I can kiss *you* better.”

Vincent spun around to protest to find a young woman diving into his mouth gently. His eyes bulged for a moment in surprise as he felt her wrap her arms around his back as she deepened the kiss.

'She's too good at this dammit.' Vincent thought to himself as she continued her kiss. Almost too soon, she broke off and giggled, “I didn't know you were a shy man, Vincent; alright, a promise is a promise.”

She winked and walked out the door to the taxi as Vincent rubbed his lips. 'What... what was that?' The moment flashed in his head and he felt something stirring in his pants. 'Damn it, not now!'

The bell dinged to the Sub Palace and the girl walked past him, stopping a few steps ahead of him. She turned with an amused expression at Vincent. He was still touching his lips and she saw something beginning to wake up in his pants. “Y'know Vince, that couldn't have been your first kiss. You don't have to act all surprised; kinda hurts my feelings.”

Vincent shook the feeling away and with his brain still trying to comprehend the feelings the kiss made in him, he replied, “It has been a long time. Thank you.”

Without another word, Vincent quickly walked out of the shop and climbed into the Taxi. “Now, Taxi, get us there now that you know I'm Vincent Valentine.”

The taxi driver nodded, “Hold on to your hats you three, this taxi's about to go to its limit.”

From inside the Sub Place, she watched Vincent look back at her and she smiled. “Hope he comes in to buy a sub sometime.” She sighed as she set to work cleaning up the place. The taxi's tires squealed and they peeled away.

With an amused expression, she pulled out her notebook and slipped out the card she had stolen from Vincent's wallet in the kiss. “There's your address, Vincent. I'll be nice and wait though; your bound to notice you dropped this later on today.” She penned in the address and giggled, "Amazing how you can get heroes to stop in at your place if you know the right people."