Raven broke the light blue crystals of the heat pack. They crunched beneath her pale, long, slender fingers as she applied pressure, becoming level and translucent. These were all over the Balamb Garden Underground Barter. Students were using them left and right. They stayed hot for two hours, and they stuck to your forehead indiscernibly. No one had been found out yet. But tons of students got sick days; days off frequently spent sneaking off beyond Garden. Raven stuck it to her forehead and went up to a teacher.

"Ma'am, I really don't feel well." She said in a believable sickly voice. The woman felt her forehead.

"You're burning up! Go to the infirmary, Raven… " She said with concern.

Hehe. Raven, trying to hold back a victorious smirk, walked towards the infirmary. On the way she ran smack into a boy who was, if possible, taller than she. He appeared a towering 6 foot 4. He was muscular, and Raven had never seen him before. He had on a deep blue t-shirt and big, baggy cargo jeans . He had extremely messy black hair and odd eyes.. They seemed to mirror whatever color was dominant in front of him. Which was black, so his eyes were scarily black and overly eerie looking.

"Heat pack?" he asked. His voice… wasn't it familiar in a strange way? Raven shook her head, amazed.

"Yeah." she found herself saying before she could stop herself.

"Yes. Just as I thought." The boy laughed softly to himself, "I am O-.. I am Xeno. And you are Raven Tilmitt?" he asked, smiling strangely.

 Raven was creeped out. This abnormal boy knew her name, and that she had a heat pack to fake her illness.

"Yessir."

"And you're a sorceress are."

"I am not!" yelled Raven defiantly, and more than a little unnerved.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

"There is no secret, bastard!"

"Stop. I am no dim-witted moron; so do not play me for one. Please. I can be trusted. I promise. Believe me, Raven, if you will."

 Raven, to her own surprise, found herself trusting him. But this boy. how could he know? Terror gripped her heart.. What if he told everybody? She would be sealed evermore in a tomb, the Sorceress Memorial, Tears Point… The Lunatic Pandora. even years after the sorceress war, everyone feared all sorceresses.. She couldn't die. Therefore she must be sealed away if people found out she was a sorceress. She truthfully wouldn't mind passing away.. But she'd have to pass her powers on to some poor, unsuspecting person, and another sorceress would exist. So, if exposed as a sorceress, she would never die. They would seal her away, ever living till the end of time. all alone.. Forever. The next thing she knew, strong hands were on her shoulders to prevent her from falling to the floor. Raven caught her breath, sweat pouring down her face. She felt sick for real now.

"Are you okay?" it was Xeno's deep voice.

"Go away... Leave me be. Don't seal me!!!" gasped Raven.

She was obviously not quite in the best state of mind right now.

"Shhhh! No one will seal you. Calm down, Raven." He shook her shoulders, and she got a grip on herself.

"Sorry, sir." Raven said, blushing out of sheer embarrassment of how she had conducted herself under pressure. She pulled herself out of Xeno's strong grip.

"Excuse me, but I was ordered to the infirmary. Good day." She said coldly, walking away. Little did she know, it was not the first, and completely not the last, time she had seen or will see Xeno.