There's Only One Me
by kageshoujo

Summary: There maybe way too many Annas, but THAT Anna is determined that there was only one her. Gaius' accidental run-in with her leads to him discovering just who Anna is.

Chapter One: Flutter

Her big brown eyes blinked at him, her lips parted slightly in surprise. She was frozen like that for a few seconds, staring at him, just as he was. Anna was standing there in the stream, red hair wet, completely undressed.

"W-Whoah-I-I'm sorry, Red, this was an accident, I swear!" Gaius said, holding his arms up to his face, as if preparing for an attack that was to come. Robin had walked in on him once-and it was not a pretty experience. The female tactician, flustered, grabbed at the nearest object and threw it straight at him. From a logical perspective though he should have been the one shocked and throwing objects back then at Bubbles... but nevertheless he did not want that traumatic experience repeating itself.

Anna, however, only turned her back on him to hide herself and did not proceed to object throwing. "Are you sure about that now?" she asked, with a slight smirk that spelled bad luck for any supplier she was going to haggle to. Gaius heard it in her voice it and felt a little shiver. "You're gonna pay your weight in gold if I find out otherwise."

His bad premonition was right-she was going to turn this awkward situation into something she could profit off of. Typical Red. "If it's gold you want, I assure you I don't have much," he said. "...But I do have these chocolates that may tickle your fancy!" He immediately rummaged through his hidden pockets to produce some of those chocolates wrapped in gold foil and fashioned like gold coins. Red's gonna love this one. Heh. He set them on the ground, and took one last look at Anna-still with her back turned towards him to cover herself-and then he'd decided to run off, before her sneaky merchant self proceeded to wring all his gold out of him.

He took one last look and noticed one last thing. She had a tattoo a little below the nape of her neck. It was in the shape of a butterfly.

0o0o0o0o0o0

One idle afternoon in a village marketplace, Gaius had decided to set up a stall to try and sell some wares. Over the course of time, as a thief and wanderer, he had learned to keep an eye out for precious and novelty items he knew he could sell for an extra gold or two. Whether they were smallclothes from imported silk, the rare tome or manual, or a jewelry of fine make, Gaius knew how to keep an eye peeled for it (and... acquire it, by however means).

He'd pulled a locket from his sack of knick-knacks-and he paused for a bit as he'd glanced at the surface of it, engraved with the design of a butterfly. He'd remembered Anna, and the curious tattoo she had. He'd wondered why she even had it. It was not in fashion among the people, and most of the time people who were marked had bitter stories explaining why they were. He'd thought about the tattoo in his arm, his lips tugging down to a frown as he did. Those weren't sweet times.

"Well look what we have here..." A voice snapped Gaius back from his thoughts-and speak of the devil-it was Anna. She had a sack of newly-bought items slung over her shoulder, no doubt with goods she'd managed to buy on the cheap. Girl always knew where to get the best suppliers. "Didn't know you were into the business as well," she said.

"I like to dabble in selling sometimes, y'know, sell the odd trinket here and there," Gaius said. "...Fancy anything you see?" he asked hesitantly, knowing she was probably going to haggle down anything.

Anna smiled and let her eyes wander around his stall once more. "Let's see... beautiful riding boots... nope, I wouldn't have much use for that. Oh, this bag is made of genuine leather! But doesn't my sister Anna make a bunch of those? ...Exquisite smallclothes... but nothing my other sister Anna can't get me a good deal for... Oh."

She had paused in her monologue, surprising Gaius, until he had realized she was pointing at something among his wares. He'd blinked and realized it was the butterfly locket.

...Oh indeed. "The locket, Red? Why?"

Anna picked up the locket and examined it, looking closely at the details. Gaius knew the item had its own flaws-the metal wasn't of very fine quality, it could easily be dented. The design wasn't engraved very smoothly either. Surely Red can tell that, being a merchant and all?

"Well, this metal looks like bad stuff and the handiwork is undoubtedly of a novice's..." He was right-Anna didn't miss it. But then she just shrugged and smiled. "But what can I say? The flaws add character to it."

Gaius was silent and just stared at her for a while, and then said, "Character, eh? You got a thing for butterflies? Find 'em cute or something?"

"Excuse me?" Anna said, puzzled.

"Y'know, you have it inked on your back and then this-"

"W-Whoah!" Anna shrieked in suprise. "Y-You saw that?!"

"Well... Well yeah I guess I did..."

Anna stared at Gaius long and hard with a pout, and the thief wondered what that intense stare could have meant. And then...

"I'll take everything," Anna simply said. Gaius didn't understand for a moment until she started reaching into her purse, coming out with a heavy pouch of coins. "Everything off your stall," Anna said, making herself clear.

Gaius was stunned. What prompted this woman to buy everything off him? Sure, he'd heard that the Annas were whimsical-strong family trait, she says-but he didn't expect her to be this... random. Before he could protest, she had shoved every last thing off his stall into her sack. He'd glanced at the pouch of gold she'd left of the table. Judging by the size of it the payment should be more than enough.

"Really generous of you, Red, but I must ask, what prompted all this impulse buying?" Gaius asked.

"Oh, nothing really!" Anna answered with a smile, but Gaius thought there was a mischievous twinkle in her eye. He knew there was more to whim about this. "I'm sure I or anyone of my sisters can upsell everything anyway and make more profit off it. It's nothing, really."

Nothing? Gaius raised an eyebrow. He knew something fishy was going on here. Anna seemed like the last person who'd do something for nothing. "Eh? Really now? You're really generous, Red, but I can't accept this. All too random for my tastes," Gaius said, pushing Anna's pouch of money back towards her.

Anna's confident smile faltered for a bit. She'd pushed the gold back to the ginger haired thief. "No, I insist. You wouldn't want Robin finding out how you peeped at a woman in her bath-"

"...So it's blackmail, isn't it," Gaius said. Or a bribe. Blackmails and bribery-totally sounds like something sly merchant Red would do... but what for?

"Blackmail? No, no, nothing of that sort, really!" Anna said, but with that sly grin on her face that suggested otherwise. "It really was all whim, really." And she's quickly turned her back and walked away, leaving Gaius to make a puzzled face as he stared at her go farther and farther away.

Blackmail and bribery, eh? Babe, bring it on.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Gaius had his shared of being bribed and blackmailed, and tricked into doing things for others. After a lot of experiences and hurt, he'd kept himself guarded over ever being used by others in ways he didn't like, and learned how to counter them. Bubbles can say what she likes, but there's no such thing as a free lunch, no such thing as pure motives—especially from a wealthy, sly merchant like Red. She seemed like just the person who knew how to smile and threaten a little in the name of profit.

She'd clearly expressed intent to blackmail him with her little comment of telling Robin about the whole... accident they had. Geez, how dare she use that—it's not like she was even shocked or surprised when I stumbled there accidentally. She clearly didn't mind too much. But now she had dirt on him, and threatened to use it. Why she was acting that way was beyond him—I only saw that damned tattoo—but now Gaius felt the need to fight back, somehow.

If she got dirt on me, well then, I'm gonna get dirt on her too.

Which was why he'd snuck into Anna's tent one evening when he was positive she was out—assigned to the night watch. The tent was dark, but surprisingly orderly. It was easy to spot anything that could have had any incriminating Anna secrets—there was a chest right beside her bedroll, looking absolutely threatening and tempting at the same time. Threatening with its obvious sturdy, elaborate make, and tempting because any chest of that kind obviously held something important...

...Maybe it has candy? Heck, fingers crossed.

Gaius took out his tools and started working on the lock. He was experienced in many types of locks and doors by now, but the chest did not give out easy. It made sense that Anna, a locksmith herself, would choose a chest that was difficult to crack. After a lot of grunting, quiet swearing, and frustration, the chest finally gave in. Gaius opened it with a sigh of relief.

But the box was underwhelming. It was filled with papers.

There were random notes and receipts... a heavy book, which upon inspection, was a book of everyone who ever owed Anna a debt... a book of sales, filled with boring numbers... some slips of paper that detailed where Anna had private accounts, which was probably the best he could use as leverage—

Until he saw a journal.

He'd picked it up—it looked really beat up and old—and it seemed there was a lot written on it. The thick journal was almost full all the way through. Gaius flipped through it and stopped when he reached the first page. He gasped when he realized what the book was.

It was a diary. But there was something even more shocking.

At the very first page, the very first entry was dated from the future.

...Not just "the future", even. From waaaay ahead in the future.

Gaius was so stunned that he didn't hear footsteps drawing close. He didn't realize it until a cold draft and moonlight entered the tent, and he'd looked up and Anna was standing there by the entryway.

She gasped, seeing him there, and almost said something, until she saw just what was in his hand. She looked as stunned as he was. But then she recovered, and sighed... and shook her head to herself.

"Looks like I have no other choice then," Anna said, and drew her sword.

End of Chapter One.

Author's Notes:

I hope you enjoyed reading this. This fanfic will have about four chapters, so I hope you hang around for the next chapters if you liked it so far. I wrote this out of my like for Anna. I think she's a very interesting character, and I love her to bits, but I feel like Awakening doesn't do a good job of explaining her or showing a deep side of her. Hence I wrote this fic. She may seem pretty OC here, but we are trying to delve into a deeper side of her, not the usual Anna the game shows. xD

Gaius is the supporting character because I think, if Anna had other male supports, it'd be him, that it would be natural for them to interact with each other. They're both very grounded and practical and realistic know how the world works. I think they'd understand each other fairly well. I also ship them (heh) but whether or not this fic will become romantic is still undecided.