Caius turned the corner to see Seifer standing at Anne's armoury, waiting with his arms folded and an impatient scowl. Anne was nowhere to be seen.

"Is Anne not here then?" he asked with a confused frown.

"Nah, I've been waiting here for half an hour," Seifer replied.

"Strange, you've not seen her around?"

Seifer shook his head and Caius's confused look turned thoughtful.

"I wonder where she could be then…"

"Where is she?"

Seifer glanced at Sephiroth lazily as Caius turned to see the ex-general had arrived, carrying a small pouch.

"No idea," Caius replied "You haven't seen her today at all?"

"Just this morning," Sephiroth replied "She was tending to your gunblade that you left behind when I went to go to Cosmos's territory."

"She might be testing it," Caius suggested.

Sephiroth hummed suspiciously and his eyes fell on a small box on Anne's bench. He walked up to it and opened it, revealing Seifer's gunblade.

"No, she finished," he said and jerked his head for Seifer to take it and leave.

The swordsmen watched the SeeD member walk away and Caius eyed the pouch in Sephiroth's hands.

"Materials for Anne," Sephiroth answered his unasked question "From Cosmos's territory. Apparently that's why and where you took her the other day."

"She told you then?"

"Kuja told me."

Caius swallowed softly.

"Maybe that's where she's gone to," he said and caught Sephiroth's narrowed eyes "She might have gotten lost along the way, perhaps if we went to look for her…"

"Or worse, she could be lying in a pool of her own blood," Sephiroth said venomously and tossed the pouch onto the bench.

"She isn't incapable of battling, Sephiroth, give her some credit."

"She's barely eighteen and you know how accident prone she is, I don't want to risk anything."

"Yes, she is a bit…clumsy and doesn't think before acting but she can look after herself. I hope."

Caius mentally winced when he realised that didn't really convince Sephiroth at all.

Meanwhile, magenta eyes took in the scene from around the corner. Nero then turned and dashed off to where Weiss was.

"No good, Sephiroth's there and he'll probably skip to a conclusion if he sees us."

"Damn it," Weiss hissed and turned away "Then let's get back to our camp, these bandages aren't going to hold for much longer."

In his arms, he held a bloodied and bruised Anne. She was unconscious from her injuries, cuts marring her youthful face. Nero glanced over his shoulder and froze when he saw Sephiroth coming this way, Caius following him.

"They're coming this way, we need to hide!" he hissed.

"Where do you suppose we try and hide, idiot?" Weiss hissed back and looked around "Sephiroth has mako-enhanced senses, remember? We can't hide in the shadows from him!"

"Is there a problem?"

Weiss and Nero jumped as a tall figure loomed over them.

"You're overprotective, of course she's not going to listen to all your orders," Caius reasoned.

"She knows that it's for her own good," Sephiroth argued.

"Sephiroth, I have seen her fight, she isn't weak and vulnerable," Caius grabbed Sephiroth's soldier and didn't flinch as he whirled around to glare at him "You don't want her to recover any more of her memories. You're hiding something, aren't you?"

"It is none of your business," Sephiroth pushed Caius's hand off him "You have your own battles to fight. You are not from our world, leave this alone."

"Gentlemen," Golbez nodded as he walked past them.

Caius would have alerted Golbez that Anne wasn't in her armoury if he hadn't been too caught up in the argument and paid attention to where Golbez was going.

"It's cruel to keep something from the person you care for," Caius argued.

"Speaking from personal experience?" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

Golbez gave another glance over his shoulder and then lay Anne down on her bench from where he had concealed her unconscious body in his cloak. Weiss and Nero fell out of his cloak too after clinging onto him from behind.

"I didn't think that would actually work," Weiss commented as Golbez took Anne's first aid kit and began patching her wounds up properly.

"What happened to this poor girl anyway?" Golbez asked as he eyed the bullet wounds and cuts.

"We just found her struggling against that girl Kefka loves to mess around with," Nero replied "Our brother saw her first and rushed to the girl's aid."

"That's why there's a bullet wound in her shoulder, hip and thigh, he wields a triple barrelled gun," Weiss explained.

"The other wounds are probably from a different battle, she didn't have any injuries that had been from magic."

"I guessed that she might have gone to collect materials for forging but she left her satchel here."

"Hmm…" Golbez hummed as he finished tending Anne wounds and stood up "Does she normally go off to fight Cosmos's warriors?"

"No, the only time she ever fights is to test out new weapons and armour," Weiss replied "But she was using her own weapons and Materia when we found her."

"She probably went to go and gather new memories," Nero suggested "I heard from Sephiroth that she wants to restore as many memories as possible from her past."

"Well why didn't she go and get someone to go with her?" Golbez asked.

"Probably because she doesn't trust anyone to let her," Weiss shrugged.

Anne groaned in her sleep and stirred but didn't wake up.

"You do realise you can't hide this from Sephiroth," Golbez stated.

"Well we're not sticking around to have Sephiroth see us with her and put two and two together," Nero shrugged "Come on, Weiss, let's get out of here."

Golbez sighed as the brothers left the armoury, leaving him alone with the blacksmith. The Lunarian didn't wish to leave the young girl alone so he stood watch over her, deciding to explain to Sephiroth what had happened if he decided to return. As she slept, Anne kept shifting and dreaming, remembering the memories that she had collected.