Chapter 23- Mistakes

                VAMP QUEEN

                Third Person Perspective

                Hey, I feel that this doesn't need any intro, so enjoy!

*^*^*^*^*^*^*###*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Aris and Adel began to laugh maniacally. Before they knew it, both Raven and Terra were hoisted up into the air and flung against the hard wall. The cold stone was harsh on Terra's body, ripping at her skin. Raven cried out in pain once more.

"You really are naïve," Aris said. "I would never let you go. This is perfect – now both of you shall perish!"

                Raven, now healed and restored, started to attack, even while being tortured once more. She gritted her teeth against screams and spoke her spell. Energy began to form into a giant bull, horns down and preparing to charge. For a second the sorceresses seemed confused, but they threw up shields in time to save themselves from being gored.

                "What trick is this?" Adel hissed. "We killed the energy manipulator. You should have power over plants and the earth!"

Raven froze. Terra, seeing this and that the sorceresses were also unbalanced, shot lightning bolts and fireballs at the pair. It hurt them enough to drop her but left Raven still suspended.

Squall rushed over to her side and helped her up. Terra settled herself in his arms as the rest of the group tried desperately to defeat these witches to no avail. Raven, the ever-calculating one, was trying to find some way down and some way to win. By the look of desperation on her face, Squall could tell that it looked hopeless.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do as a knight, but he wrapped his arms around Terra's waist, imagining all of the power from his love and soul flowing into Terra. She put her hands over his, leaned back against his chest, and raised their entwined hands.

Blinding light shone in the entire room, and the pair was thrown back into a wall. When the light dimmed, they all saw the two lying on the floor, hurt but not defeated. Not in the slightest.

Raven, still struggling against her bonds, finally picked them with an energy key and fell from her place of captivity. She sat up and cried out. She fell back again and yelled, "Enough!"

The room was plunged into darkness and Terra, Squall, Irvine, Seifer, Quistis, Selphie, and Raven all fell into somewhere they had no idea existed.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*###*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Raven's POV

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. Good thing this time pocket was dark. I put my hand to my now-bleeding forehead and tried to stand. I got to a half standing position when I simply let myself drop. I had no idea I had been that hurt.

In my curled up position, I was completely in pain. I slowly moved and was soon on my hands and knees. I still hurt but that didn't matter. The others were hurt.

Again, I staggered to my feet and went to the dazed people sitting on the ground. I touched each one, giving them a little energy. Most simply said "Thanks," too out of it to realize what was going on.

The only ones who didn't were Seifer and Terra. The blonde glared at me and turned his face away from me, a blatant refusal of my gift. I touched the back of his wrist with one finger, causing him to look at me. I smiled furtively and whispered, "Just let me heal you. It will mean that I have less energy and I'll die faster. Isn't that what you want?"

Strangely, his gaze softened and he pushed my hands away. "I'm not hurt very bad," he said just as softly. "I'm not worth it."

I moved onto Terra before he could say anything else. He was just saying that because I carried his daughter. If I didn't… 'That's it.'

I knelt by Terra and she began to bombard me with questions. Since I wasn't paying attention, I didn't' answer. When I was done, I turned my attention to her. "Sum up your questions. We only have 28 minutes now and I have three spells I have to get ready for and do. So what?"

She gaped at me for a mere split second then launched into her questions. "Where are we?"

"I created a pocket in time that keeps us in this room for a half hour and then sends us back to the exact same second we left once the time is up. Does that explain everything, Terra?" 'I'm gonna miss you and your level head.'

She didn't hear that thankfully. She just continued. "Why are you hurt again?"

"I took the energy that they put into healing me and used it to make this and heal you guys."

"What are your spells?"

I snorted. "I'm not telling you. I don't need your help and you'll just try to stop me."

"No, I won't. I promise."

I stopped my pacing, looked at her, and threw my head back and laughed, despite how much it hurt me. I abruptly stopped and glared at her. "If you kept all of your promises like that, you would have told Seifer that he wasn't going to be a father, that I was sorry for ruining everyone's lives, and I'd be dead and you all wouldn't be in this mess."

Before she could retort, Seifer butted in. "You mean that she asked you to kill her and you didn't? Oh, thanks, Terra!"

"Shut up, you meanie! If she did, then your daughter would be dead, too!" Selphie stood glaring at him with her hands on her hips. "You at least care about her, don't you?" Seifer looked away from the short girl's gaze. I flinched, knowing that no one in here was here to save me… just my child.

"Look, can we just get down to business? If y'all don't mind, I'd like to get out of here in one piece and alive."

"For once, Irvine's right," Quistis said, ignoring Irvine's pained looks. "We need to have a plan."

"Maybe we can all be a sort of diversion and Terra, Squall, and Raven can start working their magical mumbo-jumbo," Zell suggested.

"No, we lost the element of surprise." Terra turned to Seifer. "Is there anything that you can think of that might take out Adel? You might have am idea waiting to happen in a small simple detail."

"Well, there's…"

For the next ten minutes, the group discussed plans and strategies, all which would not work. They didn't notice that I was not taking part in the discussions. Then they heard a baby cry.

The seven turned to where I was standing with a newborn baby girl. I had a tired smile on my face and sheer determination was the only thing holding me up. I looked at them and said, "You guys, meet Flora Luna Almasy. My daughter.

"I made a type of magical womb and transferred her there. Then I did a spell that made a month go by in a minute. In fifteen minutes, you can take what you came for and I'll teleport you out of here." My breathing was labored, but I still turned to Terra.

"We couldn't win without both of us having knights or if we had the third witch. Since there's no one on any planet that could e my knight, that rules out the first of my plans. So I did a scrying for the power of the child and I found out something."

Terra looked furious with me, but I didn't care. They didn't want me and they were going to get hurt or killed if they tried to save both Flora and me. I had to do this. "There's no way that the next child could save us because Flora is the next one. She got Luna's powers and I had no way of tapping into them so they're dormant. Besides, you don't need me. Didn't you hear them? They meant to kill me, not Luna."

I had started to babble, but I didn't care.

            "They have her shade."

                                         'I won't see her first step.'

                                            "She wants revenge."

                                                                         'I won't see her first word.'

            "With me gone, she can go on to Mother Hecate"

                                                                                                         'I won't teach her about magic or how to ride a bike or put on make-up or anything.'

I shook my head to pull myself together. "I said that I needed to do three spells. This is the first. The other two are a teleportation spell and a gift spell. The teleportation one will be set on a magical timer for 30 seconds after we come out. I'll stay and distract these bitches. You guys will appear next to your car and you will get out of here." By now, I was crying. I knew I would die and the thought scared me.

I looked down at my daughter. She was so beautiful. And she would never know me. I smiled ruefully. Maybe it was better that way.

"The gift spell will attach my powers to one of you. That way when I die, they won't get my magic. It will go to the next witch. Then, you will have what you want and not have what you don't. And I'll have done something with my pathetic life."

I dried my tears with one hand and looked at each of them. Quistis's mouth was hanging open and she looked shocked. Zell was frowning disapprovingly. Most likely because I gave Flora Seifer's last name and also named her after Luna. Selphie, the perkiness gone from her, seemed sullen and about to cry. She just didn't like death. Irvine seemed to want to say something but was waiting for the right moment. Seifer's face was blank and unreadable. I couldn't tell what he was thinking but it probably wasn't good thoughts about me. Squall had his normal stoic façade on. He had his hand on Terra's shoulder, steadying her. Like Seifer, I couldn't tell what these two were thinking.

Finally, Irvine spoke up. He began to clap. "Congratulations. You figured out how to get all of us out of here, how to get rid of you, and how to get what we came for. But how do you expect us to finish them off, huh? What happens if, like Luna, your power goes to a baby and we can't kill them? Hmm?"

"Backlash," Terra said in a monotone voice. If you use the gift spell, and the gifted leaves an area of one hundred meters, then there's a magical bubble that seals the person and all things around her 100-meter vicinity. No magic, objects, or people can leave. If, however," she said, glancing at Seifer for some reason, "the person escapes the bubble by means of a teleport that is at the same time of the backlash, the bubble will stay and all powers go back to the sorceress."

"But we're not trying for that, right?" Zell asked. "I mean, there's a chance that that won't work and we'll be in a bigger mess."

"No, we're not!" Everyone jumped at my raised voice. "This is a gift to you! Don't reject it!" Flora fussed and I took a moment to calm her down. "No, we're not," I repeated, in a quieter tone. "There's too big a risk. And if a person offers their life for yours, you pay them back," I glanced at Terra. "And you don't reject their offer."

I looked round this small room once more. There was so much that needed to be said and s little time. "Zell, I'm sorry that they mistook me for Luna. She still loves you. And I couldn't do a thing to help her and I should have. Selphie, you're always cheerful… except when others are unhappy. I apologize for creating that sadness that followed everyone. Quistis, I just put a strain on your friendships with everyone. That's why I'm sorry. Squall, you were the person who stood by me the longest and I disappointed you. I'm sorry. Irvine…" my shoulders drooped. "Did I- oh, yeah. I'm sorry for hurting the people you care about and all those times I called you a Southern idiot. Terra, I couldn't even begin to scratch the surface of all the injustice that I put you through. I hope that one day… no, I know that one day you'll be better. And I hope that you can find forgiveness for me in the future. Seifer…" I bit my lip, knowing that this would be the hardest. "Seifer, I'm sorry for most of everything. But what I told you that morning, well…" He raised his eyes to mine and nodded. He understood.

The room around us flashed red three times and I felt momentary panic. "Quick, take her," I said hurriedly, handing my precious child to Seifer. I can't believe that I actually tried to kill her. 'I'm so sorry,' I thought hoping that none of them heard me. I saw something in Seifer's eyes but there was no time. "We have 30 seconds. Quistis, come here." I grabbed her hand and said the spell for the teleportation. Then I went into the gift spell:

               My magic, which was borne with me-

                                               I give as a gift to thee.

               And when it begins to abate-

                                                                               Thus I shall have sealed my fate.

I felt a shock as my magical signature was pulled from me. I felt so wrong. And empty. I fell to the sitting position that I had been in before making the pocket and light flooded my senses. As I saw it, I thought, directing my thoughts to Seifer, 'I always loved you.' Then I was blinded.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*###*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

There we go! What's going to happen? I don't know!