Jenova entered Sephiroth's room, seeing her eldest on his bed, staring out of his window. She smiled as she approached him, settling at the foot of his bed and placing a hand on the base of his tail.

"Sephiroth," she cooed as he flicked it out of her grip "Lady Scarlet is still here. Would you like to show her around the kingdom?"

"I did that last time, two months ago," Sephiroth said.

"Then around the city."

"She doesn't want to look at the city, she just wants to hover over my back," Sephiroth turned around from his mother fully.

"She is a wonderful mermaid, very interesting."

Sephiroth snorted derisively and Jenova's smile dropped.

"Start acting your age, you're nearly twenty-three!"

"And Scarlet has the IQ of a rock!" Sephiroth snarled as he sat up.

"That's why I held the ball yesterday, so you would find someone more suitable to your tastes!"

"Sure, it's much better when there are hundreds flocking the area, talking about where they snatched their pearls from!"

Jenova huffed as Sephiroth swam off his bed.

"Not all mermaids are the same, Sephiroth."

"Tifa Lockhart, simple little girl who complains about her shell size, Aerith Gainsborough, more focused on the seaweed than the merfolk, Lady Scarlet, can't tell the difference between a pearl and a pebble and then…"

Sephiroth hesitated and shook his head.

"No, I can't do it, I refuse to marry."

"Sephiroth, you will need an heir when you're king and I want grandchildren before it's my time to go."

"Then focus on finding wives for my brothers," Sephiroth snapped back.

"The mermaids are interested in you, Sephiroth, you're the eldest and the best."

"Well too bad."

"Sephiroth, get out there and entertain our guests right now! Listen to your mother!"

"Listen to Mother, listen to Mother," Sephiroth sighed as he rolled his eyes as the water began heating up in the room "That's what I've been doing my entire life!"

"And yet you still try to disobey me! I've told you to stop trying to contact that witch!"

Sephiroth turned to her sharply and she scoffed.

"Please, I know where you and your little friends try to escape to whenever you want to slack off from your duties."

"Genesis is alone, he's been alone and isolated for ten years!" Sephiroth nearly roared "How could you have banished him?!"

"You know very well why!"

Sephiroth scoffed and turned away.

"We can't have contact with the human world," Jenova said sternly "They're already harvesting our fish and destroying our cities."

"Why not, they can't all be bad."

"I don't know what happened up there but he was putting you in danger!"

"The human was just a child and it was crying!"

Sephiroth glared at her.

"It wasn't harmful at all."

"Because it hadn't learnt how to."

Jenova squared her shoulders as she swam to Sephiroth, their noses inches apart.

"Humans grow up. They hunt. They kill. They destroy. Remember it was humans that killed your father."

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.

"That was sixteen years ago and it had been a select few that killed him," he growled.

"And over time they have gotten more ruthless," Jenova tilted her chin up with a sneer "Now, enough of this. Go out there and at least get to know the visiting mermaids."

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at her before dashing out of the window.

"Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth hissed as Jenova's bolt of energy hit him in the back. He hunched back, feeling the sting of her power and turned around sharply, glaring at her. Jenova glared back at his window, the trident steaming.

"Get back here if you know what's good for you," she said dangerously as Sephiroth gnashed his teeth at her.

Sephiroth felt dizzy for a moment as rage took him for a fleeting moment but he shook it off. The sting on his back faded quickly as he turned tail and shot off.

"SEPHIROTH!"


Sephiroth ducked by the rock formation and glared at the guards that remained through the creek which would lead to where Genesis led his life of solitude. He slumped down to the sand, hissing and rolling his shoulders. The sting had disappeared quicker than normal; he must be developing an immunity to her attacks. Leaning on the rocks, he glared up towards the surface and snarled, speeding away from the creek. He didn't know where he was going but he didn't notice the shallower waters until he broke the surface. He coughed in surprise, looking around in the dark cave in confusion. Where was this?

Sephiroth swam closer to the rocks that separated the water from the sand and perched himself on them. He closed his eyes and revelled in the peace that he found. He began to dream.


He was still in the cave but he was back in the water. He wasn't alone, there was someone on the sand. He could hear them crying. He approached the rocks and lifted himself up onto the rocks. He couldn't see much, everything was blurring in and out. Sephiroth tried to rub his eyes from the gunk that was clogging up in them but to no avail. He couldn't see what was on the sand. But the sobs were loud and clear.

"Why are you crying?"

The crying stopped almost immediately.

"Who are you?"

Sephiroth couldn't speak, he was busy trying to clear his eyes. He couldn't see very well and his eyes were hurting.

"Remember…"

Sephiroth lifted his head from his eyes, still seeing the blur of colours before him.

"Remember…please…"

That was a different voice to the one that was crying. But he couldn't recognise it.

"Remember, everything will get better if you remember…"

But remember what? Sephiroth's head began spinning as suddenly, he heard a loud BOOM!


Sephiroth sat up straight with wide eyes as he heard a loud noise. There was a lack of light from the opening of the cave which brought him to the conclusion that he had slept until dusk. Not surprising, he had to spend all of last night awake to meet with the mermaids that had visited. Curious at the continuing booming, Sephiroth jumped into the water and navigated his way out of the cave.

There were colours flashing at the surface and Sephiroth shot up, not once caring about his mother's warnings and took a deep breath to gasp at the colours exploding in the night sky. He watched for a while until he eyed the ship not too far away. He swam over to it and grabbed one of the cannon holes to peer through onto the deck. There was…music, he could hear music. He saw plenty of sailors dancing and playing different instruments.

"You're looking super, Your Highness!"

Sephiroth ducked for a moment but realised that they weren't addressing him. He peered back through the cannon hole and saw a young girl spinning and twirling with one of the sailors. She was dressed like them but it was clear that she was girl, considering the way the sailor clothes fitted around her body. Sephiroth felt his cheeks warm up as he saw her smile and the way she moved with her feet. He fiddled with his necklace which was the proof of his royalty whilst watching her spin and finish as the music ended. Cheers filled the air as the young girl bowed to the sailor she had been dancing with and joined in with the clapping.

"Thank you so much for letting me come aboard!" she said.

"Any time, princess," the red haired sailor grinned as he slung an arm around her shoulder.

"Yer've got a better constitution than Yuffie," a blonde haired sailor grinned.

"Oi!" Yuffie growled as she lifted her head from heaving her dinner over the ledge and into the sea.

The sailors laughed as Yuffie wiped her mouth and sauntered over to the girl and pushed the redhead's arm off.


"I bet the view is better from up in the crow's nest," Yuffie grinned as she grabbed Anne's arm and began tugging her to the main mast "Come on!"

Anne eagerly began climbing up with her as the sailors continued to dance and celebrate a wonderful night. Anne stood in the crow's nest and took in a deep breath of the sea air.

"It's a beautiful night," she smiled up at the constellations above her.

"I don't think it was a good idea to come up," Yuffie whined as she began looking green.

Anne laughed as the sailor girl slumped in the crow's nest, groaning. The wind was picking up a little, making the top of the mast sway a little. Anne looked out into the black ocean, her eyes wide and curious.

"What do you think lives under there?" she asked.

"Um, a bunch of fish?"

Anne laughed and shook her head.

"No, like apart from fish," she said as she leaned her arms on the ledge of the crow's nest.

"I don't know, princess, don't put ideas in my head," Yuffie shivered as she stared into the ocean "Next thing you'll know I'll be thinking about monsters and they'll get me in my nightmares."

Anne giggled as she stared down into the ocean with her.

"I meant like merfolk."

"Ah, you've been listening to Captain Cid's tales of when he was young?"

"You don't believe in them?"

Yuffie shrugged as she leaned on the ledge, glancing at the young princess.

"Seems farfetched, don't you think? Why, do you believe in them?"

Anne sighed as she glanced up at the stars.

"I've had dreams of sea monsters attacking me and merfolk rescuing me since I was a very little girl," she said "I swear I have been rescued by something in the water but it was a long time ago and I don't remember all the details. My mother keeps insisting that it's because I had bumped my head and hallucinated…"

"But…?"

Anne shook her head.

"I remember falling and hurting myself," she said "But it wasn't my head that got bumped. I swear that it was because I had injured my leg because I had fallen down, I'm not sure how and I caught my leg in the rocks. There was blood and I remember that something in the water had helped me out."

"Maybe it was just the tide?"

Anne sighed again, shrugging. Yuffie suddenly retched.

"I gotta hurl!"

Anne wrinkled her nose slightly as Yuffie jumped out of the crow's nest and began climbing down rapidly. Shaking her head, Anne leaned her head back and gazed up at the stars happily. She fiddled with her necklace, the light pink pearl warm from lying on her collarbone and sighed wistfully. She looked forward and jumped as she thought she saw something in the dark ocean. She leaned forward to take a better look and gasped. Two magenta eyes were glaring up at her from the murky darkness. Anne jumped as lightning flashed out of nowhere and the celebrations below her stopped altogether. Thunder crashed above her head and the princess looked up at the once clear sky, eyes widening as she saw dark clouds covering the stars and moon.

"Your Highness, come down!"

"Right!"

Anne yelped as the ship jolted and she fell in the crow's nest before she could slip out. The men were shouting as lightning struck the sails and when Anne got back to her feet, there was fire beneath her, there was no way for her to get down.

"Yuffie! Cid!"

"Your Highness!"

Anne yelped as she heard the mast snap and it began falling towards the ocean. There she saw it again. Its bright magenta eyes, its long hideous tongue, its sharp teeth as long as her arm and the scales that reflected in the light of the burning ship. It was the same creature that haunted her in her dreams, that scared her so much that she was too afraid to sleep in the room that had the view of the sea. She never expected it to be real.

"YOUR HIGHNESS!"

Anne felt arms wrap around her and that was the last thing she remembered that night.


The ship was rocking back and forth violently. She was standing in the centre of all the chaos, the waves riding high and crashing back down into the seas, the ship ruined, with no masts, shattered windows in the captain's quarters and the cannons were on their side, rendered useless. There was no-one else on board but Anne could hear the panicked shouts of the sailors, she could even hear her mother shouting for her. The ship rocked violently and Anne saw the creature again, shooting out of the sea and hunching over the boat to glare down at her with its magenta eyes and hideous scowl. She fell with the ship and landed in the water, only she landed on a rocky ledge instead.

Pain wracked through her body and she began crying as she couldn't get her foot out between the rocks. There was blood everywhere and she was scared.

"Why are you crying?"

She stopped as she heard a voice.

"Who are you?" she asked.

She looked out into the water but couldn't see anything but a blur of colours. It was like there was something stuck in her eye. She began rubbing them frantically, perhaps it was sand or maybe her eyes were clogged up with tears…

"Remember…"

It was a different voice that spoke to her.

"You need to remember…"

But what was it that she needed to remember?

"Remember, I need you to remember, please…"


Sephiroth woke up holding the young princess in his arms on the sand in the cave. His eyes winced at the morning light as he propped himself up and looked around. He began remembering last night, he had watched the sailors dance some more until a storm hit the ship out of nowhere. It was startling and he remembered that the girl that had been called a princess was still up on the top of the ship. She couldn't get down because of that orange heat that humans called fire was blocking her. Fire can hurt humans and the pole snapped all of a sudden. She had been terrified and she fainted when Sephiroth had caught her. He then swum them here and he must have fallen asleep.

Sephiroth turned over and reached out to brush the hair out of the princess's face. She looked serene and she was still breathing, that was a good sign. He leaned over and noticed a faint glint around her neck. Brushing the collar of her shirt aside, Sephiroth picked up the light pink pearl and ran a thumb over it. He lost his breath for a moment, staring at the beautiful gem and running his thumb over it again and again. It…brought forth a nostalgic feeling, like he had seen something like this before. Maybe Jenova had a similar necklace that he enjoyed to play with when he was a baby. He smiled softly and glanced at the young girl's sleeping face, raising his free hand to cup her cheek. She was gorgeous. Sephiroth found the catch and managed to undo the necklace. The girl stirred as he lifted it to the light and admired its beautiful glint. He glanced down at his own necklace, a dark gold medallion that was a small map of Jenova's kingdom. He took it off and put the pink pearl necklace on. He leaned over the princess and put his necklace on her, lifting one of her hands to put the medallion in.

"Yuffie?"

The girl stirred beneath him and he froze. Her red eyes began fluttering open and she moaned, lifting her free hand to rub her eye. They made eye contact with one another and time seemed to slow to a stop. The girl paused as she blinked a couple more times to clear her vision. She reached out and Sephiroth took her hand, pressing it to his cheek. It was a very small hand and Sephiroth let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes, it was so warm and soft… He squeezed his other hand that was wrapped around her other hand that was clutching the medallion.

"Who are you?"

Sephiroth opened his eyes as he looked down at her with a look of contentment. But before he could answer…

"Your Highness!"

"Anne, where are you?!"

"Princess Anne!"

Sephiroth snapped his head up to the cave entrance and quick as lightning, pushed himself away from the girl and dove back into the sea.


"Wait!"

Anne sat up and watched the sea green tail disappear into the water. She pressed a hand to her mouth, staring at the water in horror.

"She was a mermaid…"


Her voice echoed in the dimly lit room as a voyeur observed the exchange with curious eyes.

"Well…" they drawled "this is an interesting development…"