Again, Sephirotha gave me permission to post her story up

The sun was setting over the mountains and things looked bleak in the Lockhart household. Anne watched, dressed in her older sister's kimono that had been handed down to her, as her mother barricaded the front doors and dragged Tifa into her bedroom. She looked outside as she saw the lit torches of the soldiers coming through the dark forest. Anne recognized her father leading the soldiers to their home. She didn't move as Mr Lockhart tried to open the door and sighed, knocking on the door.

"Honey! Open the door!" he called.

Anne obediently jumped from the stool she was standing on to look out of the window from and wandered over to the door, trying to pull the wooden planks that were nailed across. Her hands got covered in splinters and she fell over after one attempt. She began crying.

"Anne? Hold on, Anne!"

Anne sniffled pathetically as the guards broke the door down and Mr Lockhart picked her up. Anne watched with tear-stained eyes as Angeal stormed past to her older sister's bedroom where her mother screamed. Anne was placed down as Mr Lockhart ran into the bedroom to try and support Mrs Lockhart. Anne followed them, not listening to Genesis and Zack telling her to stay out of it.

"You can't do this! She's only seven years old!" Mrs Lockhart cried as Anne entered the bedroom.

Anne watched her mother hug Tifa tightly while crying loudly. Her father was behind her, his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Now, dear, you know it has to happen," he whispered.

"Tifa has such potential to become a fully-fledged Lockhart that only comes once in a millennia! I won't let her be sacrificed!"

Anne watched as the argument between Angeal and her mother went back and forth. All she understood was that Tifa had to do something but Mother was unhappy about it. The only thing Mother was unhappy about was if someone couldn't do something. Anne's eyes widened in excitement. Perhaps she could do this sacrifice instead of Tifa? Perhaps she could prove to her mother that she could do something that Tifa wouldn't be able to do better than her! Anne ran up to Angeal as her parents embraced Tifa tightly from both sides, both unwilling to let her go.

"Hey," she said while tugging at Angeal's sleeve "Can I do it?"

Angeal turned to stare down at her and his eyes widened.

"Um…"

He looked back and forth between the sisters. The ritual required for one Lockhart daughter to be the sacrifice so the land would be blessed by the Naga. Usually it was the eldest daughter and Angeal saw how Anne didn't understand the situation completely. She was only five years old after all. Angeal opened his mouth to say no but Genesis came in.

"Everyone is waiting," he said moodily "Come on, let's take Tifa and go!"

"No!" Mrs Lockhart shrieked and hugged Tifa tighter.

"Come on, ma'am," Angeal reasoned with her "Your mother had to do that sacrifice to your elder sister, remember?"

"I won't give up my precious daughter!"

"Ne, Genesis…"

Angeal's eyes widened as Anne padded up to Genesis and tugged at his sleeve.

"If Tifa can't do it, then can I?"

Genesis looked down at her and shrugged.

"I suppose you could," he said.

"Genesis, no!" Angeal barked but Genesis was already grabbing Anne by the scruff of her kimono and carrying her out.

"Anne!" Mr Lockhart cried as the younger daughter looked over her shoulder.

Angeal held Mr Lockhart back while Anne swung in Genesis's grasp. Zack's eyes widened when he saw Anne being carried away and followed Genesis.

"Uh, Genesis?" he said as he matched Genesis's pace "That's Anne…"

"The Naga wants a daughter, it doesn't have to be the eldest," Genesis said dismissively as Angeal eventually caught up with them.

"Genesis, be reasonable," Angeal argued "She's only five years old!"

"Well she volunteered and maybe it's for the best," Genesis shrugged and Anne giggled as she was swung about more "The mother didn't seem to mind."

"I'll just take her there for you," Zack took Anne and swung her on his shoulders "We're going for a walk in the woods!"

"Yay!" Anne cheered happily and clapped her hands as Zack ran ahead.

Angeal gave a small grimace as Zack made sure to make Anne's last moments the happiest moments she would have before her death. Zack yelped as a sudden blur cut in front of him.

"Wait!"

Zack blinked as he stared down at an eight year old boy with spiky blonde hair stood in front of him with his arms spread out to stop him.

"I wanna say goodbye to Tifa!" Cloud declared.

Zack sighed in relief and chuckled, ruffling Cloud's hair.

"Heya, squirt!" he grinned "You had me scared there! But you don't have to worry about Tifa."

"Cloud!"

Anne slipped down from Zack's shoulders and hugged Cloud. Cloud blinked, being caught off-guard, and hugged her back, staring up at Zack.

"But I thought Tifa…" he started to talk.

"Well, Anne has decided to do this little job for Tifa," Zack grinned trying to keep up the happy mood for Anne's sake "Well, we're already late! We're going to be busy, busy, busy!"

"Bye, Cloud!" Anne waved goodbye as she took Zack's hand and they began skipping through the woods, singing merrily despite the bleak atmosphere around them.

Cloud watched them go, unsure what to do as Angeal and Genesis passed him, Angeal telling him to go home. Cloud had wanted to say goodbye to Tifa before she would get killed by the Naga and then watch the ritual as she died but… Cloud looked from the Lockhart house to the direction that Anne and the soldiers had disappeared to. He trembled then decided to stick to his original plan and ran off into the darkness to watch the ritual.

The sacrificial robes were a bit big for Anne, Zack couldn't help but giggle a bit to try and keep the cheeriness up.

"They look too big for you, missy!" he grinned.

"But will I still be able to do Tifa's job?" Anne looked up at him with determined eyes.

"Of course you will," Zack smiled warmly.

He hugged Anne tightly to hide his troubled face. The soldiers then took her out of his grip and marched her to the stone slab where she would be chained, ready for the Naga. Zack felt a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Hey."

Zack turned to the nine year old girl behind him and hugged her tightly.

"She's only five, damn it!" he sobbed "Argh! Why am I crying in front of a girl?!"

Aerith giggled and hugged him back, watching the ritual beginning with sad eyes.

Anne watched the dancers dance around her curiously and tugged against the chains uncomfortably. They were cold and they were hurting her wrists. But she would do Tifa's job for her and prove to her mother that she could do something useful! The drums were getting louder and they made her ears hurt but Anne blocked them out, closing her eyes and thinking of happy things. The drums suddenly stopped and Anne opened her eyes with a gasp as everything went cold. The gates in front of her slowly opened and Anne held her breath as a large creature with the body of a man, but had a snake's tail instead of legs, crawled into the ring that she was confined in and towered over her.

Sephiroth was perplexed. None of his meals were as young as this young girl. He slowly crawled around her curiously, sensing no fear and no panic. In fact, she seemed completely oblivious to what kind of situation she was in. Sephiroth stopped in front of her and bent down, taking a good look at this girl. She was so young that the sacrificial robes were too big for her! The little girl stared at him with her head tilted to the side curiously. Sephiroth stuck his forked tongue out and poked her cheek. He was taken aback as she giggled. How strange. She seemed very pure, very innocent, why on earth was this his sacrifice? Everyone knew that pure souls were reserved for only gods and goddesses. And that pure soul was normally turned into a divine being or a mythical creature…like himself. Sephiroth cupped his chin thoughtfully while looking at the girl. Sephiroth had been very lonely lately and more and more of his species were dying out due to the lack of females and the increase of the Western World hunting down divine species. This girl, with a couple of decades of aging added to her, could be the very mate that he had been longing for. And besides, any soul would please him enough to bless the land.

With a decided smirk, Sephiroth suddenly grabbed the young girl and ripped her from her bounds. The girl whined in pain as the chains snapped and the people watching them gasped in horror. He had always just consumed the soul and left but it wasn't happening this time. Sephiroth grabbed an unfortunate dancer nearby and began sucking the life out of him instead, causing the other dancers and drummers to flee for their lives, abandoning the useless ritual. Sephiroth honestly couldn't understand why they would go through all this useless effort to try and please him. Humans were truly pitiful.

Sephiroth discarded the soulless body and crawled back into the forest and up to the mountains where he resided. He carried the girl on his shoulder while climbing the extinct volcano and sliding inside it where he slept off the years between each ritual for a soul to consume so he would bless the land. He dropped the girl and pulled the leaves off a tree he had picked up along the way to make her a small bed. He watched as she sat down and stared up at him with her cute little red eyes.

"Tell me your name," he commanded with a hiss.

"Anne."

Sephiroth used a single finger to stroke her head.

"Well, Anne. You're going to be staying here for quite a while."