"THAT DAMN BLOODY BIRD!"
Anne shot up from her bed as Cid's voice echo in the village.
"I'LL HAVE YER FOR MY LUNCH, GET BACK HERE YA LITTLE BUGGER!"
"Oh no," Anne muttered as she shot out of bed and headed downstairs "What time is it?!"
"Barely half past five," her soon to be brother-in-law replied as he blew on his mug of tea in the kitchen.
"And where's Tifa?! She should have woken me up at five!"
"I did!" Tifa shouted from upstairs in the bathroom "You were sleeping too soundly!"
"Gah!"
Anne had slipped her shoes on and ran out in her tank top and shorts to find that Ryu had once again broken out of his stable.
"RYU!"
She shot around the house, leaping over the gate and whistling.
"Ryu!" she called "Ryu, where are you?!"
"Kweh!"
She was bowled over by her horrendously naughty and dirty Chocobo who stopped right next to her fallen body, ruffling his wings and cawing eagerly.
"Ugh, you need a bath," she grumbled as she got up, dusting the dirt off "Where have you been?!"
"Lockhart!"
Anne jumped and turned round to see Cid approaching them, looking steamed beyond measure.
"What have I told you about keeping your damn Chocobo in check?!"
"I'm doing everything I can," Anne sighed exasperated "I've been making my own chains because the standard ones can't seem to keep him check!"
Ryu fluttered his wings again, bouncing on the spot as she gestured to him.
"Oh stop looking so proud, you bad Chocobo," Anne scolded as she smacked his wing.
She winced as Ryu pecked her on the head hard. Something slipped down onto the ground and she saw what looked like what remained of a mimett green. The trainee blacksmith covered her face with a groan.
"You bad boy!" she scolded again as she picked it up and gave him her best glare "You've been at his crop again! You greedy Chocobo, you'll grow fat and ugly!"
Ryu took this as an insult and pecked her head again before snatching the green and running off.
"Get back here!" she yelled before dashing off after him.
This was just another standard day for Anne Lockhart and Ryu. Although futile to catch the arguably faster than average Chocobo (probably because of all the mimett greens he's been guzzling) Anne normally found this as an opportunity for him to get some exercise. When taken out for rides, he didn't cooperate, he wouldn't allow anyone to saddle him. Anne tried bareback, only to find it more difficult as he could easily shake her off that way. He didn't want anyone riding him, it was a miracle if she managed to sit on him for five seconds. No-one knew why this Chocobo outright disobeyed Anne's instructions, despite her father overseeing the raising process. Anne did everything right, at least they all believed she did, it was just that this Chocobo just wouldn't listen. He was impossible to control.
"Hey, Anne," Yuffie grinned after about fifteen minutes of chasing him around.
Anne hunched over in the middle of the courtyard, hands on her knees and gasping for breath as her childhood friend sauntered up to her.
"I warned Cid," she breathed as the self-proclaimed ninja watched Ryu jump onto the dried up fountain and bouncing up and down "Mimett greens are his favourite. One whiff of them and he'll be pecking them out of the ground like a harvester. Except, you don't get the greens, they'll be in his bottomless pit of a stomach!"
Ryu cawed, waving his wings and bouncing higher.
"That's not a good thing, you dumb Chocobo!"
Ryu stopped bouncing and began pruning his feathers. Yuffie just cackled.
"He is beautiful."
"Don't even go there," Anne snarled as Ryu cawed proudly "Narcissistic Chocobo!"
Ryu's colouring was different to a normal Chocobo. Being a red Chocobo chick, everyone naturally assumed he was going to be a normal red Chocobo. No-one was expecting his tail feathers and the tips of his wings to turn out blue and green. He was one of a kind and people began muttering that maybe he was the product from a science experiment of sorts.
"How did you find him again?" Yuffie teased as Ryu continued his pruning.
"He found me," Anne groaned as she ducked her head.
Anne was twelve when her father took her and Tifa to the marketplace in Odin's Capital. It was the first time for both girls and their father was happy to treat them to a small gift. The marketplace was so big, Anne had no idea what she wanted. Tifa had gotten her first set of training gloves there. Sure, it was easy for Tifa to get some gloves but when Anne wanted a new hammer for blacksmith training, it was too dangerous for her. Pfft, did her father not remember how she bounced back after breaking her toe with the last hammer? Anne almost gave up, a bit sad that she couldn't find a gift like Tifa. That was when Ryu happened.
"Kweh!"
Anne yelped as something small, fast and red flew into her face and began circling her head, chirping loudly. Anne tried to swat it away, eyes closed and her arms flailing in a panic as heads began turning to the scene.
"Get it away from me!" she screamed out in a panic.
"Kweh!"
Anne yelped as it began pecking her head insistently.
"Don't worry, darling, I got it!"
Mr Lockhart tried to grab the Chocobo chick but the little terror was too nimble as it evaded the man's hand and spun around Anne. Anne nursed her head then clasped her hands over her ears when it began chirping louder.
"Where is the Chocobo stall anyway?" Tifa asked as Anne tried to grab the chick with her father.
"I'm so sorry, I don't know how it slipped through!" a rather haggard old man slipped through the crowd and he tried to grab the chick.
Anne yelped as the chick pecked the back of her head again and whined.
"Control your chicks, it won't stop attacking me!" she exclaimed.
"Kweh!"
"AH!"
The chick had dive bombed her and went down her shirt, nestling itself in between her developing breasts. Anne couldn't have screamed louder.
"What the hell is up with this bird?!"
"Aw, how cute, it thinks you're its mother," Tifa cooed as the chick poked its beak out.
"Are you implying that I look like a Chocobo?" Anne asked dryly with her face as red as the naughty Chocobo chick.
"If you want it, you can keep it," the old man offered "Free of charge."
"That sounds like an excellent idea," Mr Lockhart smiled "It'll give you a wonderful opportunity to learn responsibility, Anne."
"I'm responsible enough," Anne pouted "I make sure to maintain my tools and weapons and I can even weld a sword all by myself!"
"Anne, I've told you before. Blacksmithing is dangerous."
"So is learning martial arts but Tifa still does it!"
"I'm learning how to defend myself in case I get attacked," the older Lockhart sister folded her arms with a stern look.
"And I am providing weapons for those who prefer to be armed than train to learn self-defence!"
"We can talk about this later," Mr Lockhart soothed them as the Chocobo chick poked its head out more to stare up at Tifa "We'll take the chick, you might be able to use him when he's grown up, he can be very useful."
Anne pouted and crossed her arms. The Chocobo chick squawked in delight as they began heading off, with him still safely tucked in her shirt.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Anne muttered under her breath.
"'It'll be easy to raise a Chocobo' he said," Anne mocked her father under her breath as she stood up "'It'll be fun' he said. Tch. Come on, Ryu! Time to go home!"
Ryu cawed as he pranced over to the girls and nuzzled Anne affectionately.
"You still need a bath," Anne grumbled as she rubbed his neck.
"Aw, you both really care for each other," Yuffie cooed as Ryu ruffled his feathers again and began plodding off towards home.
"Believe me, it is not easy," Anne grumbled as they followed him.
"He got you that necklace."
Yuffie gestured to the red and gold pendant that hung around Anne's neck and Anne rolled her eyes.
"I still think it's stolen," she said as she fiddled with it thoughtfully.
"Then why don't you give it back?"
"I don't know where he got it from," Anne growled and Ryu glanced at them "Thieving Chocobo!"
Ryu cawed and just continued walking home. Anne sighed as she ran a hand through her hair.
"Still, he hates it if I'm not wearing it, it just makes things easier if I just keep it until someone claims it."
"It looks like it would belong to a king," Yuffie commented.
"Great, I might get executed if caught," Anne responded dryly.
Yuffie giggled and Anne shook her head, a reluctant smile on her face.
"Anne! Yuffie!"
The girls paused and watched Denzel and Madeline rush across to them with torn clothes, cuts on their legs and dirt caking their face.
"You look worse than Ryu, what happened?!" Anne exclaimed as Madeline brushed away her tears, clutching her toy Moogle closer.
"It's all Denzel's fault!" she wailed.
"Hey, shut up!" Denzel hissed as Yuffie crouched down to comfort them.
"Hey, hey, why don't you start by telling us what happened?" she suggested.
"It was all Marlene's idea!" Denzel argued "She wanted to see the Queen's statue!"
"You didn't have to drag us into those horrible woods!" Madeline snapped.
"You went into Phoenix's kingdom?!"
Both children nodded slowly as Anne glowered at them.
"Don't you know how dangerous it is?!"
"But that's where the Queen's statue is!" Denzel protested "And she really wanted to see it!"
"Oh sure," Anne drawled as she threw her hands up "And you know something? I would really love to see a Malboro! I'll just pack my things, head on over to Leviathan's Kingdom in the hopes that I'll be able to see one and not get killed on the spot!"
"We're sorry!" Denzel whined.
"You're sorry," Madeline spat as she rubbed her eyes.
"And where's Marlene?" Yuffie prompted them.
They were silent and Anne folded her arms.
"Where is she?" she asked calmly.
"This…thing got her…"
"What?!" Anne barked and the children backed off "When did this happen?!"
"This was all last night…"
"Last night?!" Anne raised her voice even more.
"Anne you're scaring them…" Yuffie whined as she backed off a bit too.
"I'm scaring them?!" Anne exclaimed "What about Barret?! What about Marlene?! She's probably dead by now because some children who can't heed warnings went off chasing after some fairy tale!"
"We said we're sorry!" Denzel whined.
"Sorry doesn't help the fact that Marlene could be dead because of you!"
"What?!"
Anne flinched as Barret's shadow descended on her and she glanced up at the man who was carrying lumber on his back. His eyes stared down at the group, first examining the state Denzel and Madeline were in and then focusing on the young blacksmith.
"Where's Marlene?" he asked slowly.
Anne stepped to the side and gestured for Denzel to talk. The young boy seemed to have lost his words as Madeline hugged her Moogle doll tighter.
"…Marlene's in the dark forest," she mumbled into the doll's head and Denzel paled at Barret's furious look.
"WHAT?!"
Barret dropped the lumber and lunged for Denzel. Anne grabbed his arm and ended up hanging onto it as Barret picked the boy by his shirt and lifted him up.
"Barret, calm down, we can still go look for her!" Yuffie pleaded as she and Madeline backed off.
"You call yourself a hero?!" Barret roared as Anne's legs flailed when she tried to loosen his grip on Denzel "You drag my baby daughter into your careless games then you just leave her there by herself?!"
"I said I'm sorry!" Denzel cried out "It was so dark and we were all so scared!"
"And you left her alone?!"
"Barret, please," Anne breathed as tears pricked Denzel's eyes "There might be a chance that she's still alive so please, we need to get ready to send a search party!"
"No," Barret murmured "No, there ain't nobody in this damned village that will want to risk their necks for my baby girl."
He suddenly let Denzel go and Anne slipped off as he dropped his arm and stormed off.
"What's going on here?"
Anne helped Denzel up and brushed herself down as Tifa and Cloud approached the scene after hearing the shouting.
"I'm not saying what you did for them," she said as Denzel gave her a pleading look.
She clicked her fingers at the couple and Denzel looked up at them helplessly. He then appealed to Yuffie who sighed.
"Marlene's lost in Phoenix's kingdom, they wanted to find the Queen's statue," she said and Tifa covered her mouth.
"No!" she gasped in disbelief.
"Barret's probably going to go in next to look for her," Anne sighed.
"Cloud, go see if he'll let us join him," Tifa ushered her fiancé off.
"I don't know, it seems like a futile effort," Cloud grimaced and Tifa gave him a reprimanding look.
"Cloud!"
"Tifa, not even the strongest of hunters can survive an hour in there," Cloud argued "It's a miracle that these two escaped!"
"Cloud, we can't just let Barret go in there alone!"
"I'll g-"
"No!" Tifa cut her sister off sternly, giving her a scolding look "No, don't you dare even think of going with him."
"You are!" Anne raised her voice.
"I can take care of myself."
"So can I!"
Tifa shook her head firmly.
"No, Anne. Someone needs to stay and look after Father."
Anne hardened her look.
"I worry about you too you know!" she yelled "It's never fair, Tifa! Everything is always too dangerous for me but never for you! Gaia be damned, you're my sister too you know!"
Not being able to keep up her tough look, Anne ran back home, tears trailing down her face, leaving Tifa and Cloud to head to Barret's home to discuss a plan for Marlene's search.