Anne found herself napping on her bench again when she was shaken awake. She blinked blearily at the figure looming over her and yawned.

"Sorry, how can I help you?" she murmured whilst rubbing her eyes.

"I would like to have a check over my armour," an unfamiliar voice informed her.

Anne looked up at the man before her blinked in confusion.

"I haven't seen you here before," she commented as she stretched her arms.

"I haven't found the need to come here before."

Anne looked the man up and down then saw his massive black sword. Seriously, why were all the weapons so extravagant? Anne coped with managing Masamune and Garland's sword but this sword was rather intriguing. She then realised she had to check this man's armour, rather than his weapon and sighed, getting up to her feet.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be much tear or wear…"

She came across a rather jagged accessory attached to his wrist. She yelped when it snapped off with a soft tug.

"Ah! Don't worry! I'll get it fixed, I've got the right materials…"

She turned her back and shuffled through her box of materials. The man observed her coolly, arms folded as he waited patiently. Anne found the leather, the colour slightly off but it would do because of the lack of resources she could scavenge around in Chaos's territory and began cutting it. The man sat down on her bench as she stitched his bangle, or whatever it was, up then fixed it back onto his wrist.

"There, is that alright?"

The man ran a hand along it, admiring her handiwork.

"I suppose it will do," he commented as she began checking the rest of his armour.

"Well, everything else seems fine," Anne when she finished by his boots then looked up "Oh, wait."

She stood and gingerly touched his bandana.

"A tear, I'll just stitch it up…"

"It's fine, it won't be necessary," the man said.

"No, it'll be a quick job," Anne insisted as she grabbed her sewing kit and began threading the tear together.

The man's purple eyes looked up at her, watching her nimble, burnt fingers patch his bandana up. He parted his lips softly as Anne's youth reminded him of someone special from his own world. He blinked when Anne pricked herself by accident.

"Damn, that's a bit much," she muttered when she began bleeding "Might have pricked a vein."

She grabbed her medical kit and began fumbling for something to stop the bleeding. The man stood and crouched beside her, taking a bandage roll and helped tie it around her finger. Anne stared down at the little bow he made and sighed.

"Now that wasn't really necessary," she said.

"Even the smallest of wounds can threaten a life," the man said as he stood.

Anne blushed softly and got up, a shy smile on her face. She got the feeling that this sort of thing had happened before but couldn't remember. Suddenly remembering that she had a client, Anne shook her head and glanced at his blade in awe.

"Your world is so advanced, I'm impressed," she said as she stood "I haven't really worked with such sturdy materials."

"It's interesting, meeting people from different universes," the man looked up at her as he sat back down on the bench "isn't it?"

"Well…I've only met a handful of people," Anne shrugged "Most of them just come and go. Sephiroth is very nice and friendly but he's from my world. Kuja is interesting but doesn't come by often to talk. He more or less asks about how his clothes look on him. Kefka comes just to shout something which he thinks is witty."

"That clown is quite the character, isn't he?" the man drawled and Anne groaned.

"He's a major headache, that's what he is," she mumbled "Can't get much sleep because of him…"

The man regarded her as she sat down next to him and propped her head up with her hands.

"You know…they all have such interesting names," she murmured "Ultimecia, Golbez, Exdeath…they're so foreign and I'm brought back to the reality that I've been taken out of my own world just to help in the war of the gods."

"What's your name?" the man asked.

"Oh, my name?" Anne laughed "It's plain old Anne. Anne Lockhart, began using the hammer when she was eight and broke her toe. But that still didn't stop her from learning how to blacksmith."

"What inspired you to blacksmith? It's an unusual profession for a young woman such as yourself."

"Hm…it might have been the sparks," Anne said after a pause "And that the local village blacksmith looked so strong to wield such a massive hammer to forge blades that other strong men used for battle. I wanted to be strong with…him so I began helping out at the armoury. Nothing dangerous, of course, I was about ten years old so I helped with selling and buying stuff. I snuck in at night though, forging weapons by myself. I watched the blacksmith enough so I managed to make some form of blades and improved. A year later, I abandoned it but…I don't remember much else. I have no idea why I stopped blacksmithing. Sure, it hurt a lot and I got yelled at for being so close to dangerous objects but I enjoyed it. Why…would I give it up?"

"Well, you truly haven't given it up if you're here now with your own little armoury," the man said after a pause.

"I suppose…perhaps I continued it when I was older? I don't remember…"

"Memories return when you're battling someone from your own world," the man said "Don't strain yourself to remember your past."

Anne sighed and hunched her back.

"I want to remember," she whined "I don't even know much about my connection with Sephiroth, if I have one that is. But Sephiroth won't let me go out and find someone to fight with and I'm too scared to go out on my own. I know I have my armoury but I want to know more about my past. About the people in my dreams…about my own world…"

The man was silent for a while as Anne took her nailed bat and ran a hand down it, avoiding the sharp nails.

"I understand how he feels," he eventually spoke "He doesn't want to lose you. It would be too painful for him."

"Yeah but I'll be careful," Anne protested.

"How much do you know about fighting?" the man asked, cutting her speech off.

Anne opened and closed her mouth before looking down.

"I know a bit of magic and this bat is heavy enough to deal damage but not too heavy to carry," she said sheepishly.

"So hardly anything," the man concluded and Anne nodded with a disappointed sigh.

They sat in silence for a while, Anne rolling the bat up and down in her hands.

"You never told me your name," she said softly.

"Caius. Caius Ballad."

"Another interesting name," Anne smiled and leaned her chin on the handle of her bat.

"Well, until the next time we meet," Caius stood "I thank you for your help."

"Oh! You're welcome!" Anne perked up in surprise and grinned happily.

Caius returned her smile with a small one.

"If there is anything I can do for you, let me know," he said and began walking off.

"W-Wait!"

Anne ran up to him and grabbed his wrist, staring up at him with pleading red eyes. She opened her mouth to speak. She really wanted to explore Cosmos's territory. There might be some materials there that would be useful and if what Sephiroth had told her was true…then there might be something that she could use to make him a small gift for being so nice to her. Swallowing, Anne nodded.

"The next time you go into Cosmos's territory…" she started with a soft stutter "please, take me with you."

Caius looked taken aback and turned to her fully.

"I'm not sure if I should," he said.

"Please, I just need some materials that might be in that area," Anne pleaded.

"Tell me what they are and I'll go to get them for you," Caius offered.

"That's the thing, I'm not sure what they are or what they look like, I need to know what's available in that area of the world…"

Caius sighed and shook his head.

"No, you shouldn't put yourself at risk like that," he said as he recalled a distant memory that haunted his dreams "You're too young, you'll put so much potential life at risk…"

"I don't care about any of that!" Anne protested "Please, it's not for myself, it's for Sephiroth. I…I want to make him something but I don't have a good range of materials to use. Please, Caius…"

"Please, Caius…"

That girl's voice again, it had haunted Caius ever since he woke up in the middle of the war. Staring down at Anne, he realised just how alike she was to…to that girl with the green eyes. Caius sighed and turned away.

"I'll think about it," he said and marched off.

Anne followed after him for a couple of steps, sighing softly in disappointment when she heard Kefka's prancing steps in the background.

"Oh, has someone been abandoned by their Prince Charming?"

"Shut up, Kefka!" Anne snapped rather uncharacteristically and stormed back towards her bench "If you don't want anything looked at, then leave, I'm tired and I want sleep."

"Oh, someone's rather cranky today," Kefka cackled and Anne closed her eyes.

"Shut up…" she yawned and drifted off into the abyss of sleep.