Anne and Sephiroth meditated under the chandelier, a small ball of energy moving back and forth between them. Sephiroth was completely at peace whilst Anne seemed a little bit agitated, the ball wavering slightly when it passed towards Sephiroth. This is how Vincent found them today, pleased that Sephiroth had chosen a suitable method to train Anne's magic and that Anne was improving. He watched a few more minutes until the energy ball dissipated. Sephiroth opened his eyes.

"We still have ten minutes until dinner."

"…"

Vincent frowned, Anne was just sitting there with her eyes closed.

"Anne?" Sephiroth prompted as he got up and moved towards her.

"…"

She took in a deep breath and Sephiroth's ears pricked.

"Are you ready to start again?"

Anne let out a long sigh.

"…"

She then promptly fell over backwards.

"Anne!"

Vincent and Sephiroth sat on either side of her, checking for her health before Vincent sighed.

"She's sleeping; this exercise must have exhausted her more than you had anticipated."

Sephiroth scooped her up in his arms and placed a claw over her bosom.

"Sarasu."

Anne groaned in her sleep as her core was exposed and Sephiroth carefully examined it.

"No."

Sephiroth glared at Vincent.

"She has enough magic," he said "You said that you would give her enough magic equal to that of an average Wiccan."

"Kakusu."

Sephiroth gently set Anne down then loomed over the spirit who just gave him an unimpressed look.

"What about you?" he asked challengingly.

"My core is the result of my ancestors and their practice of the Chaos magic," Vincent explained "It wasn't something I necessarily desired."

He folded his arms and glared elsewhere.

"I don't want her to have as much Chaos as I do," he said "If she transforms into…"

"It will be grand, wouldn't it?"

Vincent glared at him.

"I want Anne to achieve her full potential, think of what she could do…"

"I won't let her turn into your mindless pawn!"

Sephiroth snarled as Vincent readied a spell to attack.

"You so much as try to put another ounce of magic into her and I'll be taking her away with me!"

Sephiroth roared, making the room shake as Vincent stepped back warily.

"Yurei!"

Angeal and Genesis glanced at each other worriedly when they heard Sephiroth's roar.

"I thought they were meditating?" Genesis whined and Angeal hung his apron up.

"I'm going to check, just make sure nothing boils over or catches fire!"

Angeal ran down the corridors, towards the ballroom where the roar had come from. He hesitated when he heard loud crashes and yelling from inside then opened the doors. He saw Vincent crouched at Anne's side, his gauntlet raised as he scoured the ceiling. Angeal blinked in confusion.

"Mr Valentine?" he said warily and Vincent glanced at him.

"Leave!" he barked "It's not safe!"

Another roar was heard and Vincent looked up again.

"Farshten!"

A shield encompassed both Anne and Vincent as the room shook. Angeal jumped with wide eyes as Vincent looked at him again.

"Now!"

"What's going on?!"

Vincent's barrier broke and he flexed his gauntlet.

"Blafan, blitze!"

A bolt of lightning struck an object, giving Angeal a brief outline of Sephiroth before it faded.

"Your Majesty?!"

Another roar and Vincent sent bolt after bolt at the king. Apparently he knew where to cast because he hit his mark most of the time. Angeal's eyes landed on Anne's unconscious form and ran across towards her. Vincent then cut through his path after Sephiroth got hit again and fell to the floor, revealing himself. The deceased Wiccan glared at Angeal who returned it.

"She could get hit," he said.

"I was being careful," Vincent flared his nostrils.

"Get…"

They both glanced at Sephiroth who got to his feet and glared at them.

"…away from her!" he snarled as static electricity ran through his fur "Kasai, yurei, kogeki!"

"Farshten!"

Angeal stepped back as the fireball hit the shield Vincent drew up and persisted against it, trying to break through. Vincent stepped back as well, as if he could feel the same heat as him then glanced at Anne who was still sleeping. He then glared at Sephiroth before crouching down beside her.

"Farmorgen."

He disappeared and the shield disappeared with him. Thankfully the fireball dissipated and Angeal rushed to check Anne's condition.

"How is she?" Sephiroth asked.

"Stable," Angeal muttered and he looked up at him "What were you fighting about?"

Sephiroth growled as he nudged Anne's head.

"He didn't like the idea of Anne growing stronger," he explained then pulled away "Something's…off…"

Angeal opened his mouth to question but Anne moaned softly, her eyes slowly opening.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing, dinner is just ready," Sephiroth said as he nudged Anne to her feet "Then we can get you ready for another magic boost."

"…Really?" Anne looked up at him "Don't I have enough?"

"No," Sephiroth shook his head and Angeal frowned "You need more, your core is still weak."

Angeal wanted to beg to differ. Sure, Anne was capable of having more magic but her core was far from weak. She nearly roasted Zack a month ago anyway, if that was weak then what wasn't?! Anne's reaction caught them both off guard.

"Oh," she said in a rather disappointed tone "I see. Excuse me."

She got up, scooped up her Book of Shadows beside her and began walking out.

"Anne?" Sephiroth blocked her path "What's wrong?"

Anne stared up at him for a few minutes before taking her dagger out and slicing her palm.

"Gyakt!"

She whooshed past Sephiroth who roared angrily.

"VALENTINE!"

The servants in the kitchen jumped as they heard a second roar. Genesis paled.

"What?" he murmured as everyone began scrambling out to see what the commotion was about.

A blur past them, followed by Sephiroth storming through and finally Angeal stopped in front of them.

"…Everything is under control," he said after taking a deep breath.

"Clearly not!" Aerith exclaimed as Luxiere and Kunsel began chasing after Sephiroth.

"What's going on this time?" Cid asked gruffly as he folded his arms.

Another roar shook the castle and more crashing happened as Angeal took a moment to explain.

"It's complicated," he said.

"Loveless is complicated, Angeal," Genesis folded his arms "Just tell us what Anne did now…"

"Anne didn't do anything…" Angeal bit his lip.

"What did His Majesty do now?" Aerith sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

Angeal opened and closed his mouth as he tried to consider what to say. He folded his arms and sighed.

"…We know that Vincent Valentine escaped the coffin."

"Yes," was the collective answer as more roars echoed through the castle.

"And he went on to continue his bloodline, Anne and her sister being the last ones that we know of."

"Yes."

Angeal took in a deep breath.

"Because Anne is the only one to practice magic, she is considered the last of kin to have Valentine blood and because her mother, the only traditional teacher available for her to continue the magic, passed away she has been teaching herself magic, however when wanting to pursue further Vincent Valentine himself appeared to her to help her training alongside His Majesty thus leading to many disputes between them, because history, and this dispute in particular has to do with her magic core and Vincent has possessed Anne for some reason or another and His Majesty is not very happy with it."

Angeal took in another deep breath as he let his words seep into his confused audience.

"So…we've been living with a ghost?" Zack tilted his head.

"Ghost?!"

Yuffie yelped, jumped and landed on Cid's back, clutching onto him in terror.

"Oi, Yuffie!" Cid exclaimed as he tried to get her off.

There was a loud crash as Sephiroth roared again.

"They're outside!" Kunsel yelled as he ran past, rather bruised.

Sephiroth's eyes glinted when Vincent tripped over in the courtyard and the triplets surrounded him in Anne's body, wary and growling. Sephiroth leapt forward and raised his hand with a spell on his lips but froze when Vincent turned to him, looking rather scared. Sephiroth hesitated briefly until a wicked smirk formed on Anne's face.

"See?" he taunted as he got up with arms folded "You can't attack me because you will hurt Anne and you don't want that."

Sephiroth growled as he raised his hackles.

"Cowering behind your descendent, how spineless!" he snarled.

"Just ensuring our safety," Vincent shrugged as he turned to the triplets "You lot wouldn't hurt us either, would you?"

There was a confused look exchanged as Vincent chuckled.

"We'll be taking Poppy then leaving," he announced and Loz whined.

"But…" he whimpered.

"No!" Sephiroth growled as magic crackled in his fur but Vincent tutted, waving a finger.

"You can do nothing to stop us," he said.

"Coward!" Sephiroth roared as the other servants gathered behind him "Weakling!"

Vincent just smirked but it was brief. He stumbled and held his head with a pained hiss suddenly and everyone's ears pricked as he yelled out.

"Stop!"

Everyone backed off as Vincent screamed and fell to his knees. A brief moment later and Sephiroth saw Vincent manifest next to Anne's body who looked up sharply.

"What on Gaia is going on?!" she barked.

Sephiroth was at her side, nosing her head tenderly as they observed Vincent on his knees, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"He…was going to put more magic than necessary into your core," he said hoarsely "I was going to take you back home."

He lifted his head slightly.

"How did you exorcize me out?"

"I'm stronger than you think," Anne murmured as she used Sephiroth as a support to get to her feet then looked up at the Shinto "Is this true?"

Sephiroth hesitated as Angeal approached.

"It seems so," he nodded "His Majesty only wants you to advance in your magic practices."

"By giving you enough Chaos to…"

Vincent shook his head.

"And although your core will be able to take twice the amount of magic it holds now, your body is different," he explained and he glared furiously at Sephiroth "Did that ever occur to you?! Strong in magic but frail in physique, too much magic and she can become crystallised for centuries!"

"If that's so then I will eliminate her non-magic blood," Sephiroth shrugged.

"No!"

Vincent smirked as Anne stumbled away from Sephiroth, letting Loz be her support as she stared at the king in horror.

"No, my blood is who I am," she protested "My non-magic blood is the only memory of my father!"

Tears brimmed in her eyes as Sephiroth dropped to all fours and nuzzled the side of her face.

"Then I won't, we will find another way for you to accommodate my magic…"

Vincent scoffed.

"All you want is for her to be a trophy."

"I do not!" Sephiroth roared.

"You keep filling her with magic because the more of your magic she holds, the more she is in your control!"

Anne stiffened and stared up at Sephiroth in disbelief.

"Is this true?" she asked and Sephiroth hesitated "I…I…"

"I don't want you to leave me…"

Sephiroth looked at her imploringly.

"Just…a little more magic and you'll…stay…"

Anne sighed as she shook her head.

"Really, how old are you?"

Sephiroth's ears pricked and he yelped as Anne slapped him sharply.

"All that talk about trust!" she yelled "I trust you to keep your word, help me learn more magic and to not get me in danger. In turn, you can trust me that I won't leave until this curse is gone."

Sephiroth hesitated but before he could speak, her hand was nursing where she had slapped him.

"You can trust me."

Sephiroth stared down at her and Angeal and Vincent were the only ones who could read the emotion in his eyes. Anne let him pick her up and take her back into the castle whilst Angeal and Vincent were faced with ten very confused faces.

"I may have mentioned you loitering around in the castle," Angeal murmured and Vincent sighed, pinching his nose.

"Not going to do it," he said before disappearing.

Angeal sighed tiredly as he shook his head.

"So…dinner?"

After dinner, Anne watched as Sephiroth stacked alchemy book after alchemy book, searching for something. She frowned.

"Your Majesty?"

"Sephiroth," Sephiroth snorted and Anne blinked "Call me Sephiroth."

Anne tilted her head to the side.

"Sephiroth…" she said slowly "…What are you looking for?"

"There must be something in these books to help your body cope with magic."

Anne frowned curiously and leafed through the Book of Shadows. Sephiroth's nose skimmed over page after page until Anne's little finger poked it. Sephiroth snorted and lifted his head to see one of the pages in the Book presented to him.

"Would this do?"

Sephiroth picked it up carefully, using a translation spell to read the Wiccan.

"…It's worth a try."

"Also…"

Anne looked off to the side.

"Promise that you won't control me…"

Sephiroth lowered the book and reached out for her shoulder.

"I won't be controlling you," he promised "It was merely suggestive magic that he was talking about."

Anne looked at him with a soft frown.

"I would be suggesting your actions and it would sway your decisions," he explained "I had the power to do that since…"

He tapped her scar and Anne let out a soft 'oh' of realisation.

"Then…when Demetrius…and you…"

"That was me."

Sephiroth flattened his ears.

"Forgive me."

Anne laughed as she rubbed his ears.

"You…"

She then took the Book of Shadows.

"I will start preparing then," she said brightly.