Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and alerted! I love you guys! Some people might think I'm just being polite by thanking y'all, but I truly do appreciate what you do :) It's reviews, favorites, and alerts that really make a writer feel appreciated and driven to continue!

I tried to slow it down a bit due to a review, so if it still feels too fast, please let me know! Thanks for the critiques and the help ^-^

Disclaimer: Well, actually... No, I don't own FFVII.

An eerie silence befell the basement when the door shut with an echoing thud. Vincent remained frozen, comatose-like in mind and paralyzed in body. When he finally shook himself from his stupor, his mind worked on overdrive as the demons in his subconscious hissed amongst themselves in a language mostly foreign to the ex-Turk. Only Chaos's lingua franca formed a coherent thought within his cognizance, although he'd spent long enough listening to his other demons to piece together the gist of their discussions. Currently, the intruder girl with the cheeky disposition served as their exhortation for Vincent to emerge from the basement shadows and his much appreciated stagnation within his fairly uncomfortable coffin.

'Vince, go after her! Don't be an imbecilic introvert!' Chaos urged, his tone frantic with the prospect of a cute little ninja with audacity that could rival his own. In fact, the demon seemed to rather enjoy the sight of the female, though Vincent knew it only resulted from his primal urges and the fact that the last woman either of them saw had been Lucrecia Crescent, and nothing much followed that relationship since it had occurred… How long had he been sleeping now? Vincent couldn't even place how many years had passed since he locked himself away.

Or how many years he had left until the burden lifted and he joined the Lifestream to dissolve into peace.

'No.'

The ex-Turk sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This interloper would prove problematic for his seclusion. She obviously held no qualms about forcefully imposing her presence upon his pitiable soul. No matter how Vincent attempted to keep to his isolation, something told him that she would not be allowing that one bit, nor would his demons. There just seemed to be something about her that screamed she wouldn't take crap from anyone.

'Why not!?' the demon demanded, inflicting a headache upon the resisting host in retribution of his stubbornness. 'Ask her for her name! What could that hurt!?'

'Me,' Vincent answered glumly, leaning against a clammy wall as he closed his crimson eyes and willed both his headache and Chaos to depart, which they did much to Vincent's gratitude. With a cursory glance around the room now that his headache had vanished and he could see, Vincent surveyed the chamber, his red eyes falling upon the operating table on the far side. Pushing off of the wall, the dark-haired man approached the lab bench, a grimace breaking out on his face as he examined the blood spatters on the old metal and the various tools that splayed across the rack beside it.

"Lucrecia…" he breathed, his heart constricting with every syllable uttered. His existence, damned and scourged, served as nothing more than an embodiment of his failure to love the scientist sufficiently. Had he only done more for her, perhaps she would not have sought comfort in the twisted professor's arms. Perhaps, they would be together now, lounging in the sitting room with children scampering around them. Perhaps-

'Stop your bitching!' Chaos growled within Vincent's head, rolling his yellow eyes in annoyance. 'My name is Vincent Valentine and my heart got broken, poor pitiful me. Now I'm ruined and my life is over! See, Vince? I mean, can you hear yourself!? It's disgusting.'

He knew, of course. How could he be anything less than disgusting? His body harbored the bane of society and scars marred his flesh. Everything about the ex-Turk reeked of his monstrosity. If only he had worked harder for his love…

'Get over her, Vince! There's a perfectly eligible-'

'You do not know that.'

'-Not to mention spunky looking woman traipsing around your mansion with hips that could undeniably support your half-demon babies! Lay claim, Valentine! Possess her, show her that you are dominant and she belongs to you!'

Refusal skills, Vincent decided, would be best for any situation in which the demon was pushing for him to do something that he'd rather not. Scratch that, he'd more than rather not – he'd never.

'Chaos, for all intents and purposes, I am a monster. As such, I absolutely will not subject that poor girl to my tainting company. Whether Lucrecia wished for me to go in search of love or not, the fact remains that I cannot bear the thought of bringing harm to or spoiling the innocence of another's soul. For the life of me, Chaos, I cannot.' Vincent crossed his arms, observing the gold structure that enveloped the better half of his left arm, the substantial evidence of his demonic essence. Lucrecia had been his one and only, and without her, he was only the corpse of a man. A corpse that demons resided within.

'You, my host, are a snooze,' Chaos deadpanned, and Galian Beast let loose a little snarling cackle in response to his taunt. But Galian never responded in any form to anything Chaos or Vincent ever said…

And then Vincent knew – Galian Beast was coming out to play.

"Just a spooky mansion filled with monsters and creepy fiends that live in coffins – it's no biggie!" Yuffie swatted at yet another spider-web and shivered, her teeth chattering as she searched the house for some sort of heater to fix the near-Shiva temperature. With a groan, she concluded that the house was far too old and much too primeval to have any modern technology – namely television and telephone services – and she'd have to suffer through the positively boring experience of rooming with a creature she wasn't sure wouldn't kill her while she was sleeping.

Go figure.

She supposed that anything was better than returning to Wutai, though. That thought turned her stomach, and she pushed the contemplation out of her head, sticking her tongue out at the notion. If her father wanted to play that game with her, well, then he'd just have to kiss her ass. She loved her country, but when duty demanded her to marry a jerk just to rule, she drew the line.

"It's so freaking cold in here," the ninja hissed, rubbing her arms.

"My apologies."

With a shriek, Yuffie spun around, her steely brown eyes wide as she once again beheld the towering creature. After the shock wore off, her hand relaxed from its current grip on Conformer. She exhaled deeply and shrugged.

"Well, you're six foot something and covered in fur, so I guess I can't blame you for having a house that feels like Icicle Inn." Yuffie walked toward the tea room, the creature following her with mild interest.

"I… was not always covered in fur. Nor am I always."

The kunoichi stopped in her tracks, turned to face the monster, and crossed her arms in disbelief. Did he… Did he really expect her to have a response to that? "Uh…"

With a smirk, the creature seated himself at the table near a large window, gazing out of the glassy pane to the grey sky outside. Baring his teeth, he replied, "My host is angered with me."

Arching her eyebrow, Yuffie sat herself across from the monster, her heart beating a little faster as his words caught up with her mind. Consistently, she flexed her hand, readying herself to grab her shuriken if the time called for it. Generally, she got along with people pretty well (lie), but she didn't just hand her trust out to anyone.

What did he mean, host? "Care to explain, Sasquatch?"

The beast rumbled a little, growling lowly at her nickname as its fur bristled, although it seemed to enjoy Yuffie's edgy wit. "My name is not Sasquatch, and you'll do well to remember that, human. I am a demon, Galian Beast is the name, and the body in which I reside belongs to Vincent Valentine, formerly of the Nibel Turks."

At this, the ninja straightened, her mouth falling open a little. If he was a Turk, then… "The Nibel Turks were destroyed thirty years ago, and replaced by the Midgarian Turks that protect the President. If he was a Nibel Turk…"

With a dark chuckle, the monster nodded and finished, "Yes, my host's body is fifty-seven years old. He is immortal, however, due to a-"

A vicious roar ripped through the creature's body, and to Yuffie's immense horror, the monster collapsed on the ground, its limbs shaking and twitching as the fur retracted into its body, stretching into pale skin. His claws ripped flesh as they retreated and were replaced by fingers, and then suddenly, the process reversed like a rubber band that snapped, and the monster remained on the floor, appearing much as he had before the strange semi-transformation.

"Galian?" Yuffie inquired tentatively, crouching beside the monster. She pressed her hand to its shoulder, suddenly very worried for its – his well-being.

"Get away from me!" he hissed, his eyes no longer yellow but a deep blood-red. Jumping back, Yuffie pressed her hand to her mouth, watching in dismay. Her pulse raced in her veins as concern shot through her. Leviathan, is he okay!?

The monster regarded her coldly, its breathing ragged. The ninja took one step forward, approaching the creature.

Reaching out a hand, she breathed, "Galian-"

"My name is Vincent," it snarled as it rounded on her, hatred in its eyes as its body convulsed. The voice bit at her like a sharp knife, its point dipped in the venom of every poison known to man and creature. He was positively heartless.

Unable to find her voice, Yuffie turned and fled, racing up a flight of stairs as she held back tears. In alarm, she determined that the demon was much more human than its host.

Okay, I really hope y'all liked it! Is it still too fast? Please let me know so I can continue to work at making it better! :) And, as always, I love reviews! *hint, hint*