Vincent didn't like it when his son was arrogant. He didn't like it when he was devious. He certainly didn't like it when he brought a girl home from school or from going out with friends. But the mood that Vincent hated the most was when his son was angry. The loud thuds of the baseball being hit against the bedroom wall was getting increasingly irritating, Vincent could even hear him with his music turned on through his earphones. He couldn't even focus on marking the theory papers that lay before him, especially with Reno's handwriting. The digital clock on his desk said that it was nearly half past eleven at night and Lucrecia kept on getting woken up by their son next door.
"Vincent, go talk to him please," she begged with a loud yawn.
"If he didn't listen to you, why would he listen to me?" Vincent asked irritably.
"You're his father, of course he'll listen to you."
"You're his mother, he loves you more than he loves me."
"Anne's your pupil."
"Don't you start dragging my pupils into this, Lucrecia."
"Vincent, dear, you've been through being betrayed by your best friend, go talk to him."
"I don't think it's just about Genesis, who was your star pupil may I add."
"Don't you start dragging my pupils into this, Vincent."
Vincent would have smirked if the baseball hitting against the wall sound was non-existent. With a defeated sigh, Vincent got up, stretched his arms and stormed out of the bedroom sulkily.
"Will you stop that?" he asked wearily as opened Sephiroth's bedroom door and stood in the doorway.
Sephiroth caught the baseball, clenching it tightly in his fist and gave him a subtle glare. Vincent raised an eyebrow at him and Sephiroth threw the baseball harder into the wall, making a dent.
"Do that anymore and the asbestos will pollute your room, giving you lung cancer," Vincent dug his fingernails into his arms to avoid getting angry.
"Tch, perhaps I'll lock Genesis up in here when it does," Sephiroth scoffed and threw the baseball harder.
"Your mother is trying to sleep, you know what happens if she doesn't get enough sleep."
"Whatever."
"And I'm trying to mark my theory papers, you know what happens if I don't get them marked on time."
Sephiroth caught the baseball, pausing for a few seconds.
"I'm trying to relieve some stress, you know what happens if the stress builds up in me," he taunted.
"Well exert it in a different manner," Vincent sighed "You've been like this since you left your unfinished dinner."
"Not that long," Sephiroth shrugged and continued throwing the baseball at the wall.
"It's half past eleven, you should get some sleep," Vincent tried playing the time card.
"I'm not thirteen anymore, dad," Sephiroth sneered.
"Then stop acting like you're thirteen or I'll treat you like you are!" Vincent barked.
"You would do the same if Professor Hojo took advantage of mother!" Sephiroth began raising his voice.
"No, I would not! I would confront him personally and try to resolve the situation!"
"Oh, do you think I didn't think of that?!"
Eleven hours ago…
Angeal had let go of Sephiroth in surprise after Genesis announced that he was Anne's boyfriend. Sephiroth stormed into the hospital wing, outraged. How dare Genesis say such a thing! Anne as Genesis's girlfriend? Please! Genesis hates Anne! And Anne hates Genesis! Anne jumped with a surprised scream as Sephiroth grabbed Genesis by the collar and pulled him up to a standing position.
"Just what are you trying to pull saying things like that?!" he roared as Genesis stared at him coolly.
"Ah, Sephiroth," Genesis smirked as Tifa and Cloud rushed in to try and pull Sephiroth away "Just in the nick of time. Anne, or should I say, Florence?"
"Please, just call me Florence," Anne squeaked as she stared at Sephiroth fearfully.
"Florence it is then," Genesis dusted himself down as Cloud managed to make Sephiroth let go of him "This is your ex."
Sephiroth began spouting all words foul and malicious at Genesis while the nurse scolded them, Tifa apologising as they managed to get him out of the hospital wing. Anne watched with a horrified expression.
"As you can see, he didn't take the break-up too well, so he's convinced that you're still going out with him, are you alright?"
Anne shakily nodded, watching Angeal wrestle Sephiroth down the corridor.
Back to present…
"Then talk to her in a nice calm environment," Vincent raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, bravo, dad," Sephiroth said sarcastically while clapping his hands "Another brilliant idea that I never thought about."
Nine hours ago…
Ah-ha! Sephiroth held his breath as he saw Anne watching Genesis go through some magic training with Seth and Othello. He approached her carefully, placing a hand on the back of the bench that Anne was sitting on. He cleared his throat.
"So," he muttered and Anne snapped her head round with an alarmed look.
"What do you want?!" she demanded, jumping to her feet.
"Hey, I'm just wanting to have a nice, calm chat with you," Sephiroth soothed her and sighed when she just tensed up more "Relax, I was angry at Genesis, not you. I apologize if I scared you."
Seeing that she wasn't going to be relaxing any time soon, Sephiroth shrugged and sat on the bench.
"Right, let's try and clean this mess up," he sighed while glaring at Genesis's back "You are not in a coma."
"I suppose this was a bit too realistic to be a dream," Anne admitted with hunched shoulders.
"Yup, I do not know what Genesis is trying to pull but he was lying to you," Sephiroth looked up at her "You're actually Anne Susanna Lockhart, not this Florence character and this is your life."
"If I'm this Anne then why do I have memories of me being Florence?" Anne raised a sceptical eyebrow.
"You love to write stories, Florence is a character that Anne created for a story. So I suppose Anne would think that she had memories of Florence because she knows all about Florence."
Anne stared at the ground uncertainly, biting her lip.
"So I'm this Anne with an older sister, going to this normal school without magic…"
Magic? Sephiroth hid his smirk. Anne certainly loved her fantasy worlds.
"And going out with a boyfriend who lied to me about this," Anne giggled as she continued watching Genesis.
"I didn't…" Sephiroth's gaze hardened when he realised that she was talking about Genesis "I'm your boyfriend. Genesis lied about him being your boyfriend too."
Anne turned to him and shrugged with a smile.
"Why would I go out with someone like you?" she asked, not knowing that she was hurting him "You're not the kind of guy I would go out with."
She sighed dreamily and watched as Genesis began explaining a trick to Seth.
"Genesis read quite the intriguing story to me a while ago," she said "He said it was called Loveless."
"Anne hates Loveless," Sephiroth grumbled.
"Stop that," Anne suddenly snapped at him "You can't tell me who I am."
Sephiroth rose to his full height, his shadow covering her petite form.
"Why not? If you have no memory of being Anne then I need to tell you who she is so you can go back into your rightful role."
"And who says that she's my rightful role?!" Anne raised her voice "If I'm supposed to be Anne then why am I so convinced that I'm Florence? If Anne wanted to be Florence, I'm sure there's a good reason why she became Florence!"
"This is getting ridiculous," Sephiroth sighed softly, shaking his head "Anne, see reason. Florence doesn't exist."
"If she doesn't exist then how come I have memories of delivering my baby brother, fighting with my sister and getting bullied at school?!" Anne began shouting "Don't you dare tell me that I don't exist because I do!"
"Florence is just a fictional character!" Sephiroth began shouting, his patience snapping.
Anne stepped back, glaring at him menacingly.
"Well even if I was Anne," she snarled "I would never, NEVER, go out with a fucking jerk like yourself! Now leave me alone, go bang some bimbo who lives in the house opposite you or something!"
She ran off to the boys, who had lifted their heads when they heard the shouting. She hugged Genesis and Genesis gave a smug smirk to Sephiroth. Sephiroth glowered at him before storming off.
Back to the present…
"She…swore?" Vincent sounded rather astounded "Anne has the ability to…swear?"
"Not Anne," Sephiroth grumbled then used air quotes "'Florence' swears."
He slammed the baseball into the wall and Vincent snatched it when it rebounded.
"Right, I'm confiscating this," he announced.
"And how do you expect me to relieve this tension, apart from killing Genesis?" Sephiroth asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Go masturbate in the shower or something," Vincent shrugged "You're a hormonal teenager, do something else apart from disturbing your parents."
He closed the door and Sephiroth scowled.
"Whatever," he grumbled as he began taking his clothes off to go to sleep.
As he lay on his bed, he stared at the ceiling, closing his eyes when they got too heavy.
"Anne…" he sighed.
Would she ever wake up from this façade?