Long ago, when time had just begun and the gods were in charge of ruling over Gaia and answering the humans' pleas, a young goddess was born to Lucrecia, goddess of family. This was a child that Jenova, goddess of security and one of the two queens ruling Eden, was expecting with eagerness. Her eldest son, Sephiroth, god of war, would take this goddess to be his counterpart when she grew up. Sephiroth, on the other hand, wasn't impressed. As Lucrecia left the room, he turned to his mother.
"She is weak," he insisted and Jenova rolled her eyes dismissively "I do not need a counterpart, I can take on the burden of grieving widows and their children."
"This is my gift to you, my son," Jenova sighed impatiently "Lucrecia specially slept with Vincent to conceive this child. She may seem like a delicate flower but she will possess her father's strength for women to look up at her, worship her and take her advice. She will teach women how to fight and fend for themselves as she will comfort them as they mourn for their husbands who have died in battle."
"Just because she has the blood of the god of the underworld does not make her strong," Sephiroth snarled as he stormed out.
The months went by and Sephiroth was still unhappy to be betrothed to a mere infant, even if she was a goddess. He returned to Eden one evening, his armour soaked in blood and his immortal body ravaged with wounds. On his way to his room, he passed Anne's room where the little girl began wailing. Sephiroth paused in the corridor, expecting Lucrecia to come running immediately to comfort her little pride and joy but then he remembered she was on Gaia. Cursing inwardly and asking why she hadn't taken her daughter with her or left someone to keep an eye on her, the god of war turned and marched into the nursery. He loomed over the crib and Anne stopped crying, her blood red eyes blinking up at him curiously. Sephiroth watched with a blank face as she pulled herself up, using the railing of her crib to support herself and held a hand out to him.
"Seri," she gurgled and reached out to him.
Sephiroth made no move as she leaned over and pressed her tiny hand to his blood-stained armour. She pulled away and stared at her hand in wonder.
"Bla!" she said and waved it around with a giggle.
So far, Sephiroth only thought of her as annoying, loud and thank Minerva and Jenova that Lucrecia changed her before she left. Anne gripped her cradle and jumped up and down enthusiastically, giggling and gurgling. Sephiroth turned to leave but as soon as he did, she wailed. He turned around to face her and she stopped. Furrowing his eyebrows, Sephiroth crouched down so his green eyes were level with her red ones.
"You're annoying," he said.
Anne giggled and reached out to his face. Her tiny finger poked his cheek and Sephiroth stared at with a blink. It felt so warm against his cold cheek. Sephiroth only knew the warmth of blood when it was spilt on him, he knew no other kind of warmth. The finger drew away and Sephiroth felt disappointed slightly, the warmth in that finger felt oddly comforting. Then Anne reached out with both her arms to him.
"Ha…ha…" she struggled to get the word out and Sephiroth stood up.
She got more frantic when she saw him move and held her arms out to him, as if she wanted them to stretch and grow.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Hug!" she said pleadingly, her eyes filling with tears "Hug! Hug!"
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow as she jumped up and down, nearly slipping over the sheets in her crib. With a soft smile, he leaned down and plucked her up from the crib, letting her rest against his shoulder and hug some of his blood covered hair. She sighed in content as he eagerly held her to him, relishing in the comforting warmth she provided. He carefully ran a finger through her black hair that was just starting to be long enough to put little braids in. When he heard the light breathing, he concluded that the little goddess had gone to sleep. He considered putting her back in the crib but a soft smirk appeared on his face. He turned and carried Anne out of her room.
"Let's see what your mother will think when she discovers that you're gone," he whispered softly to the sleeping babe against his shoulder.
He carried her to his room where he gently placed her in his bed and stripped himself from his armour. After washing and dressing his wounds, he picked her up, slid into bed and rested her on his chest. She curled up with an adorable sigh and Sephiroth closed his eyes to sleep, a hand firmly resting on her little body.
"Where's my baby?!"
Cloud, god of blacksmithing, woke up to the sound of Lucrecia throwing one of her vases in a rage. He groaned, rubbed his eyes and yawned, getting up and wandering out to see what the commotion was about.
"Geez, Lucrecia, calm down!" Zack, god of celebrations, cried out as a vase went whizzing past Cloud's nose before smashing into the corridor wall.
"My baby is gone and all you can tell me is to calm down?!" she shrieked as she stormed past the blonde god.
"What's going on?" Cloud asked as Zack chased after her.
"Anne's not in her crib and she's panicking that Vincent might have found out about their child and taken her away," Zack sighed.
Cloud sighed shortly after. Lucrecia never told Vincent in the end that Anne was his child, despite how much they look alike. Luckily, Vincent rarely visited Eden so it did look like he would never know about Anne.
"Please, Lucrecia, calm down," Angeal, god of the sea, sighed.
"Where's my baby?!"
"You have nothing to worry about, Lucrecia."
Everyone turned their heads to see Jenova and Minerva, goddess of wisdom and the other queen of Eden. They had soft smiles on their faces as Minerva took Lucrecia's hand and led her to Sephiroth's bedroom. The other gods, intrigued, followed them. Cloud carefully peered into the crack of Sephiroth's door, sprawled out at the bottom as everyone else peered through the crack above him. His blue eyes widened in surprise as he saw the almighty god of war sleeping peacefully in the light of the dawn with the baby goddess cradled to his chest gently. Zack cooed.
"Aw, that's so cute," he whispered.
"What's so cute?"
"Oh, oh! Aerith, quick, come and see!"
Aerith, goddess of nature, took Zack's hand and peered through the crack then smiled.
"I want to see!" Tifa, goddess of love, hissed as she pushed Zack aside and stood on her tiptoes to see the scene.
"Let me see!"
"Sssh!"
Yuffie, goddess of hunting, yelped and covered her mouth as Sephiroth grunted in his sleep and Anne yawned. Soon the whole population of Eden were crowding around the door, watching the scene until Sephiroth cracked one eye open, sending them fleeing. Except from Jenova, who stood at the door with a bright smile.
Did you know that Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom?