The sword had punctured two of his organs and caused a mass of blood loss, but Tseng pulled through and lived. He’d managed to retain consciousness until he was safely delivered to the Shinra hospital in Midgar. Then, when he next woke up, he found out three days had passed, Aerith was confirmed dead, and he was on mandatory leave for the next foreseeable future to recover.

Tseng watches on quietly as you gently clean around his stitches. It was too difficult to walk around right now, so his range of motion was limited. You'd been his strongest support through all of this, and he was grateful to have you as his partner even if he couldn’t quite show it. Tseng observes the dark shadows beneath your eyes, the worry in your expression. He knows that this, all of this, had taken its toll on you. Neither of you had taken the time to properly grieve. “You’ve done enough,” murmurs Tseng, his voice hoarse from lack of use. “Get some rest.”