[Somehow, she got through to him. It may be small and brief, but that flicker of familiarity at Gran's name, and Vitty's, breaks that hard gaze of his and she watches, breath held, for something to happen...
...
But then he's crying out in pain, slumping over like the air has been sucked clean from his lungs, his tears turning to ice and scattering in small, broken shards across the wooden floors, and Tifa throws caution to the wind. She scrambles past the dogs, picking one up and moving it aside to make room for her, her hands pressing to the walls of ice that have started to build up around him. Embers at her fingertips melt it away, even as it continues to form, and she wants to reach out to him—remind him that he's here, not wherever those distant, locked up memories take him away to, but fear holds her back.
Even if she did see it, she still can't be sure that he's himself again.
But seeing him undone like this... It's too much, even more knowing that she was the one who almost unraveled his memories. It was for the best, but it still forces her over into a sob, her head leaning over the small dog that's been nudging her side since she collapsed on the floor in front of him. Her eyes hurt, her head hurts, but most of all, her heart feels like it's being relentlessly pulled in a hundred different directions.]
What's going on with you?
[She looks to the dogs, as if they'll have an answer for her.]
... What did they do? This wasn't how this was supposed to go.
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...
But then he's crying out in pain, slumping over like the air has been sucked clean from his lungs, his tears turning to ice and scattering in small, broken shards across the wooden floors, and Tifa throws caution to the wind. She scrambles past the dogs, picking one up and moving it aside to make room for her, her hands pressing to the walls of ice that have started to build up around him. Embers at her fingertips melt it away, even as it continues to form, and she wants to reach out to him—remind him that he's here, not wherever those distant, locked up memories take him away to, but fear holds her back.
Even if she did see it, she still can't be sure that he's himself again.
But seeing him undone like this... It's too much, even more knowing that she was the one who almost unraveled his memories. It was for the best, but it still forces her over into a sob, her head leaning over the small dog that's been nudging her side since she collapsed on the floor in front of him. Her eyes hurt, her head hurts, but most of all, her heart feels like it's being relentlessly pulled in a hundred different directions.]
What's going on with you?
[She looks to the dogs, as if they'll have an answer for her.]
... What did they do? This wasn't how this was supposed to go.