Yuffie, Vincent, and Cait Sith were the first three to arrive, each responding in different ways. Yuffie's response was to simply faint on the spot, but Cait Sith and Vincent were quicker to act - the former even catching Yuffie as she collapsed. Vincent, though obviously disturbed if you were paying attention, moved over to examine the scattered petrified parts of Tifa.
"We need to gather up all of her quickly. She can still be saved," Cait reported.
"Nanaki was saying he thinks there was some way to cure people like this, some book back in Cosmo Canyon" Aerith noted.
"There is, but we need to move fast, how long ago did this happen, about ten minutes? That gives us about a day to get her fixed."
"We should take her to Cosmo Canyon, as well as the book, it's likely much of what we need will already be there," Vincent said.
With Yuffie out, and Nanaki and Cait Sith not dexterous enough to pick up her parts, Aerith and Vincent were left to the somewhat grisly task of making sure they gathered up as much as they could. Fortunately the grey rock she had become stood out on the brown dirt. Vincent was careful not to disturb any dirt.
"Focus on smaller parts, we can place them in a bag and carry larger sections," Vincent said.
"A... bag?" Nanaki said, a little weirded out.
"Yuffie should have one, she always has spare bags for loot. Look through her stuff, plastic without holes is preferable. I know how it sounds but we don't really have time to panic over this."
"I wish I was as calm as you," Aerith muttered, as Nanaki looked through Yuffie's rucksack and found a suitable thick bag.
"I'm not, I've just had more experience with things worse than even this."
Aerith shuddered at the implication from the once-Turk, as footsteps neared. She looked up to see the rest.
"What the &^$% happened?!" Barret cursed.
"Goddamn..." Cid said.
Cloud's response to just stare in surprise somehow seemed worse, living mako eyes locked on Tifa's wide and fearful stone ones, like he too was turned to stone.
"I know this looks bad but we can still save her, okay? We get her all together, get her to Cosmo, and there's a book there should help, but we gotta hurry!" Cait Sith said.
"...O-okay, what do we do?" Cloud finally moved, looking very pale.
"Don't faint like Yuffie did," Nanaki tried, but no one really reacted to the attempted joke.
Vincent filled them in even as Cloud rushed to gather up parts of his hometown friend's broken statue.
"So what, we get magic glue and get quick at doin' jigsaws?" Barret sighed.
"We do something, okay?!" Cloud snapped.
"Sorry, man, just... I dunno what the hell we can do."
"Vincent said, Barret, it's as good a plan as any," Cid said, as he helped.
With more sets of hands (one in Barret's case) they gathered up the smaller parts, opting with a shared grimace opted to put her broken arms and one snapped-off foot in the bag, leaving her torso and head, pelvis, and legs. Carefully, Cloud carried her torso, while Aerith took her pelvis, Vincent taking the two mostly-intact legs, Cid took the bag, and Barret carried the still-KO'd Yuffie.
"I ain't gonna risk my one-handed ass droppin' anythin' important an' hurtin' Tifa more," He explained.
"I should point out she's somewhat fond of Yuffie, Barret," Vincent said.
"Yeah, she is, guess it goes the other way how the kid reacted..."
They carefully loaded their grim cargo onto the buggy, ensured that Tifa's parts were as secure as could be, and gunned the engines.
They slid to a halt after a couple of hours, the buggy's engine practically white hot from strain. Yuffie had awoken, but had flown into a panic when she realised what had happened. Reluctantly the party had used a sleep spell on her, keeping her out for the duration of the high speed trip. Cloud, however, was silent and despondent, gently holding Tifa's body close, her terrified frozen expression facing outwards.
"I'll wait with her, you guys go ahead into town," Barret said.
"Alright. Nanaki, get your grandpa to give you the book, bring it to the inn, we need to find out what it says," Cid said.
The Cosmo native sprinted off, the man at the gate wide-eyed in surprise at what the party carried.
"I'll fetch Elder Hargo, he dealt with such injuries during the Gi attacks," the man said.
"Well, there's good news, right? Means people have dealt with this before for sure!" Cid said.
"Yeah..." Cloud almost whispered.
They reached the inn in silence, the keeper quickly letting them have a bed to put the majority of Tifa on, while they gingerly laid the bag and other separated parts down.
Nanaki returned with the book, as Elder Hargo arrived.
"Oh dear, this is quite severe. How long has the poor girl been like this?" the Elder said.
"About three, four hours," Aerith said.
"Then we still have time. And options. Let me see what the book says to be sure... but you'll also need as many remedies and potions as we can get."
Cloud practically bolted out the door with all the gil the party had, heading for the item shop.
"Nanaki, go with him, make sure he doesn't lose it," Cid gently instructed.
"I shall also go, Cloud may need help carrying items," Vincent offered.
"We can save her, right?" Aerith said softly as they went after the blond.
"Oh, yes, we should be able to, but I must warn you, the cure can sometimes fail, or be incomplete. She may be fully restored, suffer limb loss or paralysis, become stone permanently... or repetrify and crumble even more severely."
"So it's either let her die for sure or maybe save her. No contest," Cait Sith said.
"What do we have to do?" Cid asked.
"Well... the first step, we need to find something able to contain all of her and the curative bath. Digging a hole would be enough."
"Or we could weld something together. I'll go get the mechanic, me and Barret will take some panels off the buggy, make something."
"You could weld some of the tin baths from the bathhouse together," the innkeeper suggested, gesturing to the inn's bathing facilities.
"Right, we'll try replace them," Aerith said.
"Don't worry about that right now, miss, a longer line in the morning is worth it if we save your friend."
"Still gonna need a blowtorch or something, back soon," Cid said.
"Well, that's settled. We prepare that, place her there, and fill other tubs with potions. We'll also need blood. What is her blood type, do you know?" Hargo said
"I don't," Aerith replied.
"B, like Cid, but you and Barret are both universal donors so will that work?" Cait Sith said.
"It can. We won't need a lot though, so it may be better to get blood from both of you."
Cid returned, mechanic and blowtorch in tow, starting work on the baths. Cloud soon returned, Vincent carrying the other items, being filled in on what was needed.
"I'll go fetch Barret then, and watch Yuffie," Vincent said.
"Wait - maybe we should wake her up. If it goes wrong..." Cloud said.
"I'll go, I can explain to both of them."
"Well, Cloud, you go too, we'll get this done, make sure it's not leaking," Cid said.
Yuffie awoke with a gasp.
"Tifa! She's okay right, I was just having some crazy nightmare?" The wutaian said.
"...No, but we're helping her," Cloud said.
"B-but she was smashed to bits!"
"There's a way to fix her, it should work," Aerith said,moving to hug Yuffie.
"Should? It might not?"
"We can't be a hundred percent, so yeah, there's a risk. But it's all we got," Barret said.
Yuffie was silent, before nervously swallowing.
"I... wanna come up, in case."
"Attagirl, but it'll be fine!" Barret said.
They returned to find the bath ready, and the potion preperation underway. Cid, Vincent, Nanaki and Cait Sith emptying bottles.
"Barret, Aerith, if you'll give me your arms I'll extract some blood from each of you. Cloud, Yuffie, if you could help fill the potion tub?"
The pair were shaken from staring at Tifa's form and the floor respectively, rushing over to assist. Soon, it was done, a tub filled with glowing green fluid, and they began carefully placing Tifa's petrified form piece by piece in the welded tub.
"We carefully pour the potion in, then add the blood. What should happen is the mixture will boil, obscuring what happens. And if all goes well, your friend will be alive and whole," Hargo said.
"Fingers crossed..." Yuffie said with a nervous half-sob.
Cloud and Vincent carefully poured the mixture of potions and remedies over Tifa, wincing a little when the liquid made parts of her move. She was soon submerged however, just dark shapes at the bottom of the green mix, and the blood was added. Almost immediately, it began to bubble, turning into completely opaque dark green gelatinous substance in moments, filling the air with a coppery tang.
"It can take a few moments, but as long as it does not boil off completely, it should mean success. We can only wait, and hope the Planet does not wish to take her today..." Hargo said grimly as the mixture bubbled, and clouds of vapour rose...
There are five possible outcomes to the cure...
...And Fixed
...And Damaged
...But Living
...And Lifeless
...And Irreparable