Disclaimer: People, do you think I own Final Fantasy 7? Then no.

WARNING: Shounen ai. Yah. That's what I thought. ONE TIME I'm telling you. There will be no sex. I am only thirteen, I
don't need to be writing very descriptive fanfictions about boys screwing other boys and a new way to use strawberry
syrup or something, okay?

Authoress's Notes: Yeah. Hi peeps. 'Sup? Um...this is something that popped into my head a really long time ago, before
I started to bravely post my fanfics. Yes, it took a lot of courage to do so, especially the shounen ai ones. Now that
I've done so, I find it easy and love the responses. I believe I've only gotten one flame the whole time, and that was
near the beginning. Not that you care. So here's the fic. Vincent's POV.

Once Lost, Now Found
Chapter One
"The Inner Human"

I had seen the small, timid child walk into the dusty halls of ShinRa mansion, but I thought nothing of it. Walking
slowly to my basement, I thought the little boy would leave for his own good, it was far too frightening in here. No
matter his age, he would sense it and run home, crying.

Ah, how wrong I was.

It's amazing how brave children can be when faced with fear one way and embarrassment the other. They would stumble
on through the darkness to prove that they can face their fears. I say that he doesn't have to prove himself, but
children have very large egos.

I certainly didn't expect him to come crashing through the floor.

He was supposed to explore the whole mansion, I think. I don't really know, myself. But what happened has happened.

The small, blond-haired boy hugged himself and pushed onward. He kept placing one foot after another, each step kicking
up a cloud of dust. The irony of the child kicking up clouds. He happened to step on a not-so-sturdy floorboard, the only
one there, out of all the other floorboards, he stepped on the rotting one, and fell through.

I emerged from my half-sitting position in my coffin and ran to the library/labratory to inspect the noise so rudely
interrupted me and my activity of doing nothing but detest my existence. Stepping into the basement library, I saw him
laying there on the floor, cradling his tiny wrist. brushing my raven tresses from my face, I knelt down by his side. He
peered at me and his tearfilled eyes grew wide. He tried to back up in his fear of me, but his small, more than likely
bruised back met the cool wall. Of course he cringed. I was terrifying. That was it all summed up into one big obituary
for him. He didn't scream, he just shook in dread and pain. He recoiled at my cold touch as I gingerly pried his afore-
mentioned wrist from his chest. He made a single cry, a lone yelp as I examined it's bent, misshapen figure in the dim
light.

"Are you injured in any other way, child?" I asked, my voice sounding strange even to me because of it's lack of exer-
cise.

He erratically shook his head, just his wrist and his nerves. Enigmatic blue eyes met violently crimson. I turned my
head away, fearing that stare. It would make him even more stressed if I continued with that.

"How old are you?" I asked, brushing dust and woodchips from his blonde locks.

He reluctantly opened his mouth to respond to my inquiry. "...I'm five..." He managed to peep.

"And your name?" I investigated.

"Cloud Strife," He reacted.

I cleared the rubble and destruction off of him and heaved him from the sullied floor. Cradling him to my chest, I
held him in my clawed hand and began to walk through the the stone hall to the wooden, spindling stairs.

He was warm against me, something I wasn't used to anymore, and I tried to ignore the sudden longing and needing for
human interaction. I asked myself how I was supposed to want human interaction if I myself am not human. This poor,
frightened child would tell of me, and they would come to destroy me. As entertaining as that sounds, I did not wish
to be rid of until I have lost all hope. Or was it my overactive mind and the factor that I have had too much time on
my hands? Either way, to them, I would be a simple monster roaming the streets. They would make a signal, and the of-
ficials would destroy me on command. That too, sounds quite entertaining, but I have a task on hand that needs to be
attended. I was so wrapped up in that I barely heard the aforesaid task's question targeted to me.

"Mister, what is your name?"

I smirked to myself. Yes, what is my name? It hasn't been put in use for a long period of time.

"Sir?"

"My name...it is Vincent."

I set him down by the door to the mansion. "Can you go from here?" I asked quietly.

Cloud Strife nodded, blonde head bobbing, the fear gone from his eyes. "Thank you, sir."

I stared at him. I hadn't heard that in a while. "No need for thanks, young Cloud. You must get your wrist treated."

He nodded again, and opened the door. I was silently and secretly hoping that I would see the sun shine again, but night
had come all too quickly, and I was met with the familiar black abyss of darkness. He peered in one last itme, and closed
the door behind him.

Days had passed, or months. I don't know, my sense of time was warped, just like myself, and a small glimmer of hope
inside that he would come back was starting to fade. When I lost all hope, I began to lay myself into my coffin, pulling
the wooden cover halfway over my face. And I saw his face staring down at me. I blinked and removed the cover once more.

"Young Cloud, why have you come back?"

"I came to see Mr. Vincent."

"Yes, child, but why?"

"Mr. Vincent was nice to me, and he seemed lonely."

You wouldn't understand the underuse of your word lonely, Cloud. I was solitary, forlorn misery I had become accustomed
to. And the use of the word nice doesn't suit me. You must have your priorities mixed up, young Strife.

"You should leave. Your mother will worry."

"That's okay, I told mom that I was visiting a friend."

I frozein place, still sitting erect in my uncozy home. "You told of me?"

At this, five-year-old Cloud shook his head. "No, Mr. Vincent seemed like he didn't want anyone to know about him."

Damn right. This child was very unique. No doubt he would become somebody that would influence the world. Oh how right
I was.

This child would constantly come to my "home" over the course of the next three or so years. I watched as he aged and
how time stood motionless for myself. Yet, I did not regret it, and I lived kind of normally then. Please note kind of.
Cloud was constantly trying to get me outside. He wanted me to meet his mother and be his "fatherly" figure. He never
once mentioned my claw, never once asked why I lived in solitude. He just wanted me to get out and live a little. As
expected, I refused each request. After a while, he gave up and just resumed normal visits with my hideous self. I
felt secure.

Then came the fateful day that young Cloud announced his ascendance. He informed me he was leaving, and told me not to
be lonely anymore. Until the day that he came back, and I was still here, he would pull me into daylight. And he left me.
He left me to the closing in walls. I once again became accustomed to the penetrating silence. The next time I saw him,
the light he would have pulled me into was the burning flames that consumed Nibelheim. But, it seemed he had forgotten,
and hope left me.

So I laid down, pulled the coffin lid over myself, obscuring my vision, and closed my eyes, to sleep until death consumed
me.

Those years I slept, not once did I open the coffin, until I heard voices. A young woman, an odd man, and one that seemed
all too familiar. There was a difference, because he had obviously hit puberty way before, but all in all, it was the same.
When he entered, I opened my coffin to come face-to-face with an overly endowed but beautiful and petite young woman with
flowing chocolate hair and warm wine orbs, a flaming red lion of some sort that could speak, and what I had been waiting
for, and what I had lost hope for. There he stood, in his twenties, same blonde hair, though it was much more "pokey"(as
some people would put it)than before. His eyes were different though...he had been infused with the detested Mako.

And my fears became alive. He had forgotten me. But I should have known, who would want to remember something like myself?
So I pulled my coffin over myself and thought. He shoved the lid off again, and I asked him about Lucrecia, and when I re-
told him my name, his eyes brightened in recognition of the name, but not the person. After some thinking, I halted him
and his traveling companions.

Why I stopped him and joined his band of unusual comrades, I myself don't really know. My wanting to be needed overcame
my sophistication. Or maybe I made my decision because, even though he didn't remember me, he still kept his promise. Of
sorts. And I got the old feeling of comfort and fitting in, and once again knew that he would make a difference, and I
wanted to be there to see what he would achieve. And he made the best possible difference in the world, because he saved
it. He was truly extraordinary and unique, as I had once put it.

He had saved Gaia because he was an excellent, beyond comparison, person and leader. And I can admit to myself that, yes,
I was happy, in some way, for him.

The young, timid Cloud I had once known had grown into the most wonderful person ever, and I am glad that he had fallen
through the damned ShinRa mansion's floor.

I was very right of my judgment on him that I made when he came back to me for the first time. He had grown into someone
awesome in strength, and even stronger in heart, while I stayed timeless to watch it all. My revenge for Lucrecia had also
been fulfilled. Hojo had gotten what he deserved, something that I had wanted; death. My purpose in life had been
accomplished.

The question is why do I still live?

Why must I continue on with my isolated life?

But I can be hypocritical and contradict that inquiry. I am not so isolated anymore. My crew members do not give me stares
of fear, nor do they criticize me because I had been "genetically modified". It seemed as though, for now, I fit in. That
I had people to call "friends". Another word that had disappeared from my vocabulary and had re-emerged because of my
accidental meeting with the enigmatic Cloud.

I can admit that I look up to him with respect. I always have, except when I thought he would never come back and cursed
him for making my life more miserable, if at all possible. It seemed so, at the time, but I have become numb to the depres-
sion.

But now, there hasn't been much of that lately. I have seen the light, and have become alive once more.

My claw is a constant reminder of what I once was, but that was back then. I have begun to be able to look at it without
scorn crossing my face, and maleficent thoughts about how monsterly I am run through my congested mind. Because though I am
still very much myself, in my silence, and secretive demeanor, there is satisfaction hidden underneath it all, as I begin
to re-construct my rarely used emotions. These emotions that I have used, but never shown. And though I never showed said
emotions, Cloud, the wondrous hero, has proven that deep inside, I am still very much human, and I thank him for that.

Once lost, I have now been found.

_______________________________________________________________________

Hieica: What did you think so far? That sounded like an ending, but there is more to this story. The beginning part, with
Cloud meeting Vincent when he was five was completely made up by your truly. I have too much free time. Um...there will
be magical stuff later on, because this was just a recap.

Swissy: Anyway, review people, or I'll steal Vincent's gun and shoot you a million times.