Author's Notes: This can be kind of confusing, because it's from Vincent's point of view. He doesn't really know their names, but I think that you can distinguish who is who by the way I describe their voices... At least I hope so.

Rating: K+

Warnings: Cursing and implied Yuffentine.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII and am not making any profit from this.

He could hear them up above. Beyond his coffin, his room, up the winding stairs, and into the mansion above—he could hear their voices. He was asleep—he was always asleep—but he could hear their voices reverberate through the darkness that was his eternal sleep.

It had been so long since he had heard a voice—so long since anyone had entered the mansion—that it came almost as a shock to him. Other people… What were they doing in a place like this?

A few voices especially stuck out to him simply because they were loud. One was a deep, gruffly voice—a man—quite large, he assumed (considering he could hear his footsteps). The other was rather loud and boisterously annoying.

"Guys," he heard the annoying one say, "This is creepy. Look! 'I scientifically altered him, and put him to sleep in the basement.' Gawd, they put some poor guy in the basement? We've gotta get him out! What if he's hungry? What if he's gotta pee? Oh no, what if he's dead?!"

"Yuffie, calm down," a quiet, deep voice said. "We'll get him out. Now, what does this say, again?"

From then on, Vincent listened to the feet shuffling above as they searched for what he assumed was a key, probably to rescue him. The sounds of metal clashing and the odd noises materia made led Vincent to assume that the voices belonged to fighters—ones who were here to stay until they felt justice was served. He pitied them; they would soon be disappointed should they succeed in rescuing him. He would firmly object to leaving.

By the time the day was over, Vincent was thoroughly exhausted (despite the fact that he was sleeping). He hadn't heard that much noise in quite a while, and all the listening had been a lot to handle all at once so quickly. He tried to tune them out. It only worked a few times before a squeal from the annoying one or a variation of a rather loud battle cry jolted him back to a conscious state. He distinctly remembers hearing "You stupid monsters! Why can't you leave us alone? There's a person in the basement, for crying out loud! We need to help him!" followed by a rather loud crash.

Needless to say, when things finally began to quiet down again, Vincent was thoroughly relieved.

"Aha!" The annoying one squealed. "See? This is what we've been missing! The last digit was right here all along! We just couldn't see it!"

"Woah, how'd you figure that out, Yuf?" He heard a different girl say. "That's pretty tricky. C'mon, let's go try this again!"

"Dammit, what is the matter with this thing?" The smaller male from before growled, and Vincent heard a bang. Perhaps it was a combination they were fiddling with?

"Cloud, we figured it out! There was one last digit, but Yuffie found it!" The house was silent for a moment before he heard another squeal.

"Yes!" The annoying one again. "Finally, the damn thing opened! Now let's go ge—Woah."

It was a long time before Vincent heard any sound besides harsh breathing, grunts, growls, and the sound of an obviously difficult battle. He heard the clash of metal and gun shots, thudding footsteps, punching fists, and perhaps even an animal growling. Then—Finally!—a resounding thud and a few sighs of relief.

"Son of a bitch," the large man said. "I'm exhausted."

"Why don't we go to the inn for the night?" Another female, different from the other two. Her voice was rather light and airy.

"What?!" The annoying one, Yuffie, he supposed her name was. "But… the guy in the basement!"

"Yuffie, we're all exhausted. I'm sure the guy in the basement can last one more night. In the state we're in, we'll get killed if we go down there," the smaller male said.

"There's always more monsters in the basement. Why don't we rest? We can come back first thing tomorrow morning!" The girl with the light voice said.

After a bit more arguing, Vincent figured that they'd come to an agreement—a few would stay to help "the guy in the basement" and the rest would leave to get some rest. The smaller, calm male, and of course, Yuffie, stayed. He listened to their footsteps grow louder, coming down the stairs, and soon they were right outside his door.

"Yuf," he heard the male say after a bit of clamoring around, "The door's not opening. I think it needs a key."

"Wha—what?! No wa—Oh… Uh oh."

"What?"

"I think… I think I saw the key—in the safe! After we opened it, I saw it but then… That crazy monster came and we all got so distracted…"

A sigh. "Alright, I'll go get it. You stay here, and don't get into any trouble. This'll just take a second." He heard the footsteps run quickly up the stairs.

"Nyuk nyuk nuyk… Just the way I planned!" He listened as the door was toyed with again before—surprisingly—it opened. He waited with baited breath, and soon, light shined into his coffin for the first time in thirty years. Vincent was afraid to open his eyes.

"Wow…" He heard Yuffie whisper, her breath puffing out onto his skin, and that was when he opened his eyes to the girl—her short dark hair, and big, wide, grey eyes. She began to smile, slowly, and soon she was beaming at him.

"Yuffie?" The other was coming. "Yuffie, how'd you get in here? I have the key."

Yuffie's grin somehow grew impossibly wider. "I picked the lock."

"Erm, why?"

"Because," she said, and her smile was dazzling, her eyes full of wonder. "I wanted to be the first thing he saw when he woke up."

Vincent blinked, the room so bright, and her face right there in front of his. He never thought he'd leave his coffin—never thought he'd wake up. He had so many sins, his hands so bloodied. How could he ever live with the guilt the consequences of his failure and his mistakes had brought him?

Somehow, Yuffie and the other, a spiky headed blonde, managed to convince him to get up, walk around, talk, and eventually, he did leave his coffin. For the first time in thirty years, Vincent saw the light again.

This was just something I thought of while playing FFVII and trying to get Vincent one night. Wheee! It's from a different point of view than I'm used to writing, which was fun to do. :3

Thank you for reading!