Sephiroth's eyes snapped open when he saw the pair of burning red eyes again. He sat up and regained his bearings. Looking up at the empty darkness above him, he didn't bother watching the green energy that was the illusion of the Lifestream. He couldn't find it. The memory from where the eyes had come from. Those eyes had haunted him since the first day he remembered being in this world, fighting for the god named Chaos. There was no-one significant on his team with eyes of blood nor were there anyone on Cosmos's side that had those brightly coloured eyes.

The Cloud of Darkness, he accused them for poisoning his rest with awful visions of blood, fire and an alien feeling within his chest. They denied it of course and Sephiroth concluded that he had little evidence to prove that she was responsible for his disturbed sleep. Ultimecia, a witch but a witch of time, not of dreams. She couldn't be responsible for his unwanted visions. Sephiroth's instinct told him that it was a woman he was seeing, even though he could only see her eyes. He could also hear her. Every time he would see those eyes, he could make out broken words from a woman's voice.

Then in the ninth cycle, he saw a new addition to Cosmos's team. Tifa Lockhart, they called her. She was a martial artist and she was from his world. So he approached her, crossed blades with her and took a good look over her. She was very feminine for her age and she showed impressive strength. She had red eyes like Sephiroth had envisioned but they weren't as bright as he had seen. No, this wasn't the woman who haunted his sleep. She didn't have the spark of naivety or youthful aura around her. She was more mature, stronger. So he defeated her ruthlessly and walked off, feeling rather frustrated.

During the tenth cycle, there was a rumour that Cosmos had a new warrior that wasn't fighting. In fact, this warrior was secret to even the rest of Cosmos's team. It seemed that she was working as a strategist and designing armour and weapons for the team. Sephiroth listened closely to Locke describing this girl. He was lucky enough to even sneak into the enemy's base to get a glimpse of this warrior. Chaos seemed interested to see this warrior's abilities too and Sephiroth felt frustrated when Locke only described her as a young cute girl. He confronted the thief later, asking for a more accurate appearance. Locke estimated that she was about sixteen and she had long black hair. He didn't get a chance to see her face.

Sephiroth dreamed of those haunting eyes once more when he was slipping out of consciousness when Cloud had defeated him.

"Sephiroth," that naïve voice said his name.

Sephiroth wanted to see more of her. All he could take from this girl was the bright blood red eyes that looked up at him, the smell of apples coming from her and her laughs. They weren't laughs out of spite, sadistic pleasure nor malice. A true genuine laugh of happiness. This girl seemed to be bright and positive, like there was no war going on. Sephiroth was curious about what was making her so happy.

"Sephiroth," she spoke again and the eyes closed, her pale eyelids and eyelashes the only things he could see now "I miss you."

"If you miss me so much to haunt my dreams," Sephiroth replied to her "Then come to me."

There was a gasp and the eyes opened, twinkling happily.

Sephiroth woke up in water. Masamune was by his side which he quickly snatched and put her away in her sheath. He froze when he realised that he was not alone. He turned and saw a young girl unconscious near him. She had long black hair and pale white skin. She was clad in just black shorts and a red shirt that draped over her right shoulder. She didn't wear anything on her feet apart from a gold anklet with a Gil coin attached to it. He slowly approached her and noticed a Materia bracer and a large baseball bat with nails sticking out of it next to her. A Materia bracer, she must be from his world. To his knowledge, the other worlds didn't use Materia. When he got closer, he caught the scent of apples which seemed familiar to him but he didn't know why.

The girl stirred in her sleep as he carefully took her bracer and took a look at the Materia inside. It was pretty basic since it was the start of the cycle. There were five slots, containing Fire, Lightning, Ice, Earth and Restore. The girl moaned and she opened her eyes, looking up at Sephiroth.

"Who are you?" she asked and lifted herself up into a sitting position.

Sephiroth looked at her and saw her blood red eyes. He felt that this girl was significant to him but he didn't know why. He placed her Materia bracer down.

"My name is Sephiroth," he said "I'm a warrior of Chaos."

"Sephiroth…Chaos…" the girl looked down as she slowly processed the information then looked up at him "My name is Anne Lockhart."

"Are you with Cosmos or Chaos?" Sephiroth asked.

"I don't know."

Sephiroth sighed and stood up.

"What do you remember about yourself?" he asked as he picked the baseball bat up and fingered it gingerly.

"I…I…I'm sixteen and I design weapons and armour."

Sephiroth looked down at her lazily and helped her up.

"I think you'll be a useful asset to the Chaos warriors," he said and handed her the bracer and bat "Come with me."

Anne looked at the bracer and bat before snapping the bracer on and taking Sephiroth's hand. As they walked, she idly swung her bat back and forth, their feet making small discrete splashes in the water. Sephiroth didn't know why, but he squeezed her hand gently and she squeezed back.