Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Crimson Curse ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

 

Chapter 5

 

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-Tokyo Hospital-

 

 

 

 

“What do you mean we can't visit Cloud Strife?”, Tifa shouts at the receptionist, while Karin just stood there with Aeris's basket of flowers in her arms.

 

“I'm sorry, but no visitors allowed”, the nurses stubbornly says, “Now leave or I'll have to call security to remove you…”

 

“Tifa, let's go…”, Karin suggests, glancing around at the people who gathered to watch Tifa argue with the nurse.

 

“What is going on here?”, a woman's voice asks, the owner of the voice begins pushing her way through the crowd.

 

“Ah, Head-nurse… These girls are trying to bully me into letting them in to visit one of the patients, ma'am”, the nurse behind the desk explains.

 

“Hey, I'm just standing here holding a basket of flowers!”, Karin complains.

 

The head-nurse finishes pushing her way through the crowd into the lobby-area, she had long light brown hair pulled up in a ponytail, warm brown eyes behind a pair of thin wire-framed glasses, and appeared to be in her mid-thirties; it was Sherra.

 

“Sherra?”, Karin gasps.

 

“Karin, what are you doing here?”, Sherra asks.

 

“Me and my friend; Tifa, are trying to visit our friend; Cloud Strife, he was in a motorcycle accident last night”, she replies.

 

“What about College?”

 

“Our Dean gave us permission to visit him, so long as we gave this to him”, she says, lifting the basket up a bit.

 

“I see. Laura, I know one of them so let them visit”, Sherra states.

 

“Alright…”, Laura sighs, “He's in room 6207”.

 

“Thank you”, Karin thanks, leading Tifa away.

 

“So you know the head-nurse…?”, Tifa whispers.

 

“I only just met her last night…”

 

“Really… So what happened last night? I tried to call, but you weren't home…”

 

“I went for a walk and was attacked by a gang…”

 

“Were you hurt?”

 

“No, someone came to save me after I passed out, and Sherra is the guy's landlady…”

 

“So it was a guy who saved you and you were over at his house all night… Was he cute…?”

 

Karin lightly blushes and tries to hide it.

 

“I'd take that as a yes…”, she states.

 

“Here's Cloud's room!”, Karin says, trying to change the subject.

 

“So it is…”

 

The two young women enter in through the door, they saw Cloud laid out on the hospital-gurney, his left arm was in a cast, his forehead was wrapped up in bandages, his neck was in a neck-brace, he was hooked-up to a respirator, an IV of blood was inserted in his right-arm, and the heart-monitor beeped out his heart's rhythm.

 

“Oh Cloud…”, Tifa gasps, rushing to his bed-side, “Cloud?”, she whispers, gently taking his hand into her own.

 

Karin places the basket of flowers onto one of the side-tables, then picks up the hospital-chart; being able to read it after taking that medical class last year.

 

“Let's see…”, she mutters, skimming over the chart, “Mid-concussion… Fractured left radius… Possible spinal-injury… and, excessive lost of blood, but not a lot of blood found at the site of accident…”, she reads to herself, `Blood-loss huh? And not a lot of it found at the location… A Vampire attack?', she ponders.

 

She glances over at Tifa kissing the back of Cloud's hand and quietly talking to him.

 

`I have to get Tifa out of the room to check him for bites…', she thinks, “Hey Tifa?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Could you go get me something from the vending-machine? I'm feeling parched. I can watch over him”, she lied.

 

“Sure…”, Tifa says, standing up, “The usual?”

 

“Yeah, thank you…”, Karin replies, `I'm sorry Tifa…', she apologizes in her head.

 

Tifa closes the door behind herself as she leaves, and Karin quickly gets to Cloud's bedside, carefully removing the neck-brace to look for puncher-marks from fangs on his neck and shoulders; finding none, she puts the brace back on before anyone noticed.

 

“Nothing…”, she sighs, silently glad that he wasn't bitten and won't become a vampire's mind-controlled slave.

 

“Worried your friend would end up a mind-slave?”, a male asks from behind her.

 

Karin spins around, surprised, her golden-brown eyes meeting amused blood-red ones.

 

“Vincent, don't startle me like that!”, she exclaims, fighting her urge to just go over to him and slap him.

 

“I apologize for scaring you, but you were worried he was going to become a mind-controlled minion, right?”, he asks.

 

“Yeah…”

 

“You've dealt with it before?”

 

“Kind of…”

 

“What do you mean `kind of'?”

 

“I know how people become a vampire's mind-minion and I've seen a few, but I've never had to take one down before…”, she replies.

 

“Ah ha, I see…”

 

“I can handle fighting vampires because they're no longer alive, but a mind-controlled human is still just a human, I can't risk killing them it would just weigh too heavy on my conscious…”, she says.

 

“Sometimes you have to, just to save your life and the lives of those you care for, but it is harder when the one you swore to protect is the one trying to kill you…”, Vincent states bluntly.

 

“You got that right…”, Karin sighs.

 

“What is going on in here?”, a male's high-pitched voice questions from the door-way.

 

The two vampire-hunters turn towards the annoying voice and see a man in his late-thirties with un-clean looking long black hair pulling back into a low-ponytail and dark brown eyes glaring at them from behind wire-framed glasses, he was wearing a physician's lab-coat.

 

“What are you two doing in here? This room is restricted!”, the man demands.

 

“I was visiting my friend, who just happens to be in the bed!”, Karin states, pointing towards Cloud's unconscious form.

 

“Well, I want the two of you out of this room, right now!”, he demands.

 

“Fine…”, she spat, grabbing Vincent by the wrist and drags him out, “Let's go Vincent…”, she says, glaring the male doctor in the eye as she stomped past him.

 

“Karin what's wrong?”, Sherra asks, when she saw the angry expression on her face.

 

“Some fucking doctor kicked us out!”, she complained, plopping down into a chair.

 

“That sounds like Dr. Hojo, he's the only one allowed to be seeing your friend. I'm sorry I should have told you to avoid him…”, Sherra apologizes.

 

“It's all right… At least I got to see that Cloud is alright…”, Karin replies, weakly smiling.

 

“So will her friend recover?”, Vincent pipes up.

 

“Oh, Vincent I didn't notice you there”, Sherra gasps, “Yes, he will. But because of his mid-concussion, he's being kept in a chemically-induced coma for now…”

 

“I can't believe it!”, Tifa's voice rang out, from down the hall.

 

“Sounds like Tifa just got turned away…”, Karin says.

 

“I can not believe this! I come to visit Cloud, and a doctor tells me no one is to see him!”, Tifa complains as she comes into sight, then plops into a chair, opening one of the sodas she bought from the vending-machine; the soda exploding in her hands from accidentally shaking it in her rage, most of the continents ending up on the floor.

 

“I know Tifa, I got the same thing. Only you were lucky to not be in the room when Dr. Hobo kicked us out!”, Karin states.

 

“Us?”

 

“Me and the guy who saved me”, she replies, pointing to Vincent.

 

Tifa looks over at Vincent, “Oh!”, she gasps, “He is cute…”

 

Karin lightly blushes again.

 

“But not as cute as Cloud…”

 

“I better be going…”, Vincent says, turning to leave.

 

“I'm coming too, I need to finish speaking with you”, Karin says, running up beside him, “Tifa, just be careful walking home, alright?”

 

“Okay…”

 

“I can have my husband drive her home when I get off shift in an hour”, Sherra offers.

 

“Tifa, just get a ride home with Sherra and her husband; Cid”

 

“Sounds safer… Sure”.

 

“Alright then”, Karin states, smiling, then notices Vincent halfway down the hall, “Vincent! Wait up!”, she calls out, running after him.

 

“Well, that's new…”, Tifa mutters.

 

“What's new?”

 

“Karin having a crush on someone…”

 

“Oh…”, Sherra gasps in surprise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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-Outside-

 

 

 

 

 

“So what did you wish to speak to me about?”, Vincent asks.

 

“Even though Cloud wasn't bitten, I still have the feeling a vampire was behind his accident…”, Karin replies.

 

“I think you might be right…”, he says, walking over to a motorcycle parked by the curb.

 

The bike was a vivid black `2007 Harley Davidson Softail FLSTN Softail Deluxe', with custom-made accessories on it, a silver dog-head graced the top of the front-tire well with two more heads; one on each side of the well, and in silver paint of the side of the gas-tank read `Cerberus', the leather-seating was mid-night black leather with silver trimming.

 

“Wow…”, she gasps, almost drooling over the bike, “Cool bike…”, she mutters, as Vincent got onto the bike and puts the key into the ignition.

 

“You getting on or what?”, Vincent calls.

 

“Oh, sorry…”, she blushes, sitting side-saddled behind him; only because she was in a skirt, wrapping her arms around his waist to hold on, “Ready…”

 

He glance over his shoulder at her, slightly amused, “Hold on tight, Karin”, he says, pulling the bike from the curb, and speeds down the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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-Location of Cloud's Accident-

 

 

 

 

 

 

“He was speeding down the road here”, Karin says, walking along the motorcycle tire-treads marks on the pavement, “Something or someone was there…”, she points to a spot on the road, “…and Cloud swerved to avoid hitting it”, she continues, following the skid-marks on the street around the spot she pointed to, “But at the velocity he was going, his bike began to slide on it's left-side…”, she follows the metal-scraped trail, “Cloud trying to brace his fall, lands on his left arm; fracturing the radius-bone in his fore-arm, and the side of his head also hits the asphalt; causing his mid-concussion…”, she explains, pointing to a small crimson stain on the road where his head had hit.

 

“Sounds like a normal accident to me, how could a vampire be related to it?”, Vincent asks, standing beside his bike.

 

“I've known Cloud since the age of 10, and even on his bicycle; he was fast but careful as he rode, he always paid attention to his surroundings and knew what was up ahead on the road a block or two in advance…”, she says, “The only way he could have wreaked his bike was if someone or something suddenly appeared in front of him, and a vampire is the only thing out there that can do that…”

 

“Really…”

 

“Yep…”, she says, walking with her back towards Vincent and her hands behind her back.

 

“Are you sure that only a vampire can do that?”, he questions, suddenly standing behind her, holding her by the shoulders from behind.

 

Karin could only gasp in surprise as her heart-beats suddenly doubled.

 

“I mean, I'm not a vampire and I can just suddenly; in a blink of an eye, appear…”, he whispers into her ear, causing her to tremble as shivers to go up and down her spine.

 

Suddenly, Karin just plants her elbow into Vincent's abdomen; causing him to release her, “Don't you ever do that again…!”, she stutters, flustered and blushing as she walks away from him.

 

Vincent just watches her walk away as he nursed his bruised abdomen, `She didn't use her full strength to hit me… If she did, she would have broken a rib or two…', he thinks, knowing she could after checking Bunji's corpse, and finding the injures on the former-vampire.

 

“Vincent! Come on! I have to go pick up Cloud's motorcycle from the impound-lot!”, she calls out, holding up a key with a metal wolf-head keychain; like the earring in Cloud's left-ear, attached to it, as she sat on the back of his bike.

 

Vincent just sighs as he walks towards his bike.

 

 

 

 

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