Raven looked up, fire burning in her eyes at the figure looming over her. There was a cold, merciless laugh.
 "So you think you can escape, stupid girl?" the man cackled. He kicked Raven hard in the gut. Raven had been chained, and there was nothing she could do except to hold her head high and look him indignantly in the eyes.

"Don't you call her stupid again." Came a hard voice from the door. The man looked up and smiled a horrible, evil smile.

"So the prophecy has been fulfilled. For your part, at least. You've played right into my hands in all your senseless stupidity."  

"Let her go!" roared the boy from the door.

Raven yelled in anguish as the sword plunged through his chest. The boy stumbled and slumped, and Raven tried to use her sorceress powers to heal him.  Yuki, who was seeing through another's eyes, felt her heart thump and she wanted to jump at and strangle the man. He had just impaled Matt.

"Now, I have business elsewhere." The man smiled cruelly and disappeared.

 Matt squeezed his eyes shut, and with a sickening sound the sword was pulled from his body. Rage looked up with a look of absolute fury. Black and silver sparks danced over the wound where the sword had been, stopping the pool of blood but not able to heal it over. Raven sighed with relief that her spell had worked. Matt staggered to his feet and wiped the blood from the edge of his mouth. Suddenly a monster loomed up behind him. Matt spun around, eyes wide, and Raven screamed.   

Yuki gasped and reeled back. The sense of fury, anguish and fear came over her, overwhelmingly powerful. She –had- to get to the dungeon! She put her head down and pumped her legs as fast as she could force them to go. She felt herself running into strong arms and looked up, face red out of embarrassment. But she beamed joyously.

"Dameon! How did you get here?" she asked incredulously.

"Long story." He smiled. "What's the rush?"

"I have to get to… a friend. He's hurt." She said urgently.
 Dameon stared at her. "You must be mistaken, Yuki. There are no monsters in this land, no evil. Just mages."

"Well then the mages hurt my friend." Raven demanded.

Dameon's eyes clouded over icily. "You're accusing us of hurting one of your friends?" he asked angrily.

"You're a mage?" Yuki stared at Dameon.

"So what if I am?" Dameon shrugged. "It makes no difference."

"You can't be. The mages are dead." Yuki gazed him, confused.

"You need proof?" Dameon held out his hand. A small flame licked it and engulfed it. He squeezed his hand shut, opened it again, and there was no flames or even a burn mark. "There. Besides, who's to say we weren't growing and prospering again in our own land? How do you know about us anyway?"

"I've… I've read things about the mages, and I've heard things." Yuki said evasively.

"You have one of our scrolls?" asked Dameon tensely.

"I don't, but…"

"Who does? Those blood traitors! Feigning our decent, denouncing our linage! Betraying us, leaving us alone to face the Dark Void and die!" Dameon raged with such abruptness and ferocity that it made Yuki jump.

"Well, I'm a human. Does that mean that –I'm- a blood traitor?" asked Yuki coolly.

"No." Dameon's onslaught of anger stopped unexpectedly. He grabbed her hands. "You're different, Yuki. I can make you the Queen of all the mages. We can rule over them all together. We'll be the most powerful people in the world, just you and me! We'll rule over the mages and the humans, and make the mortals pay. We'll be the most powerful pair to exist." He fantasized, trying to make Yuki a tempting offer.  

"I already have a boyfriend." Yuki pulled away disgustedly. "And I would never go on a mass-murder of humans. I –am- one."

"Fine." Dameon snarled, grabbing her arm and lifting her off the ground. "Then I'll hand you over to my master."

 Yuki screamed. "Let go of me!"

"I still love you, Yuki. You have till we get to the dungeon to reconsider it, okay?" Dameon said angrily.

"Oh, just let go of me you bastard!" Yuki yelled, kicking him.

"I was being generous, too soft." Dameon shook his head. "It's a shame things had to turn out this way."

He whistled and an inhuman screech filled the air. A giant black dragon with demonic eyes landed beside them. It was Bahaumut, Yuki realized with a horror filled jolt, but he was possessed. The dragon snapped harshly at Yuki and Dameon threw her on before getting on himself. Yuki felt like retching. Bahaumut belonged to the mages now. That meant that Matt was either unconscious or he wasn't alive to stop them from stealing the GF pendent. She clutched him feverishly and cried all the way to the dungeon.

~*~

Raven looked to Matt. He was laying in the far corner, chained up like she was, eyes blank and distant. Rage struggled helplessly to get over to him. Raven looked up at him desperately.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked quietly.

"He's poisoned!" Rage cried. "He's gonna die if no one can reach him soon. This is Jenson-weed poison. There's no way I could get the antidote here, but…"

"Rage, if you think I'm gonna let you die, you're wrong. There has to be a way to save him and everyone else be alright, to."

Xeno, who had been beaten so bad he could hardly move, stirred slightly. "I'll do it." He whispered.

"Stop it! I can heal him if I can combine an Esuna with my magic." Insisted Raven.

"ENOUGH!" roared a guard outside. "The boy will die. And I will make sure of that."

He came into the room and put a bangle on Raven, restricting her powers. She tried violently to do anything to stop him. She cursed at him and even attempted biting him when he got to close. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and spit on the floor, but successfully there was a large red mark on the soldier's arm. He bellowed curses and without warning threw the javelin in his other hand. It hit it's mark and it was flung into Xeno, who slumped, his eyes still open in a blank stare. Raven screamed and the bangle shattered. Her rage and anger and loss were so fierce that her powers exploded in a blinding flash and the chains binding her disintegrated to mere dust. Her dark eyes narrowed, now black, and a burst of magic was hurled at the soldier, who screamed in pain and fell to the floor, twitching. Rage squirmed. He had seen this only once before… but he remembered it quite clearly.

((Flashback*))

Rage approached Raven apprehensively. He lowered his gaze sadly.

"Squall has been assassinated."

Squall was their older brother, who had moved away a long time ago, and at the time that Squall had been shot, he was 28 and Raven and Rage were about 20. Raven's eyes narrowed and an eerie glow surrounded her.

"Selphie!" yelled Rage fearfully, because their mother knew more about sorceresses then he did. .

But Raven was obviously not even in control anymore. She wasn't possessed by another sorceress… her powers themselves had possessed her. She raised her arms towards the sky then slammed them down. Thunder and fire mixed crashed into the ground, and when everything had cleared away, Raven was on her knees in the middle of it all. There were two tiny circles where not one blade of grass had been scorched. The one that Raven was in and the one that Rage was in. Everything else was black. Raven looked up, exhaustion overwhelming her.

"I'm sorry." She whispered before swaying and falling over.

((end of flashback*))

Rage shook his head. "RAVEN! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Raven crumpled on the floor, and Rage tried hard to call upon the slightest inkling of power inside him to break the chains. But it was no use. A soldier snuck up behind him, having heard the noise, and slammed a piece of metal against Rage's head. Instantly he blacked out.

~*~

((a/n: thanks to Evelaunce and Selphie108 for the inspiration to continue. I dedicate this story to them, seeing as I have no other way to thank them. (waves at Evelaunce and Selphie108*) thanks so much guys! I'm sorry this took so long, for a while I was sick and then I got huge writers block. So I promise the next chapter will be better! Thanks to everyone who reads my stories, ~Sefie Lynne tilmitt~))