Yuki curled up in a miserable little ball, the ropes digging painfully into her wrists and ankles. There were moans all around her in the dark cell. She shivered. They were people who were suffering, and they had probably been there a lot longer. She sucked in a shuddering breath as something cold as ice touched her hand lightly.

"Sorry." Came an apologetic female voice. It was soft and quiet, gentle and timid. "There's not a lot of room to move in here."

"It's okay." Yuki replied.

"My name is Laura." The girl said.

"Yuki." She replied. "What are you in here for?"

"I argued with the other mages that not all humans were bad."

"That was brave. I'm impressed." Yuki smiled slightly.

"Thankyou. Why're you in here?"

And so Yuki began her story, starting from when she had met Matt.

~*~

Rage sat with Raven leaning against him on one side and Matt unconscious on the other. Across the room, Rage had taken the cloak from the soldier and laid it over Xeno. Raven's face was streaked with tears but she hadn't spoken a word since she had been possessed. Rage sighed and closed his eyes, keeping himself from being disrespectful and gazing at Raven. He knew she hated crying…. Raven was just so amazed that a simple spear was able to kill her Xeno…

((*flashback*))

Raven felt her blood run cold. She cried out and ran over to her injured friend. Xeno was bleeding, lying on the ground. The GF. Her GF. Xeno.

"Oh my God." she curaga-ed him frantically.

"I thought you wanted me out of your life." Odin… no, Xeno… Xeno said softly. Raven felt the blood rise in her face.

"No no no no. I did NOT mean that, and you know it! Xeno!"

Xeno/Odin laid his head down on the pavement.

"Raven."

"Don't you dare die on me!" Raven's eyes filled with tears. "What did they do to you?"

"They have shot me. You know how badly injured I am, Raven."

"Well, ya gotta pull through! Ya did last time! Odin, listen to me!" Raven got down on her hands and knees and looked him in the eye fiercely. "NO!"

"You think life should be simple, fair. But it is not. You will never truly be without me, because I will always be in your heart. Isn't that right?"

"Yes. I'm not ready to be all alone again. I took you for granted as Xeno. You WERE Xeno, right?"

"Yes. I thought you would never figure it out." Xeno chuckled softly to himself.

"KILL THAT BEAST!" roared a Galbadian Soldier behind them.

"NO!" she screamed back.

"It is your duty Raven. Kill me and be done with it. There is no other option. Just make it fast and painless." The look in Xeno/Odin's eyes sent tears streaming down her face.

"How could you say that? You know very well you're my best friend, I could and would never do anything to hurt you!" she burst out. An idea struck her. "Get inside my crystal!"

"I'm sorry, Raven."

"You were the most hard-headed GF I'd ever seen! Don't give up on me! You'd've never given up before! Xeno, SNAP OUT OF IT! I won't let you get hurt!"

"Raven! What's going on? Are you okay?" Rage sprinted over towards her and knelt beside her, concern totally obvious.

"I'm fine. But he's not. Don't you recognize him? It's Odin! Xeno!"

"Ha ha. Funny, sis. Seriously. Let's just get this over with."

"I AM serious! I won't let you kill him." Raven blocked Xeno/Odin from any line of fire.

"Raven… so that's why there was no record of Xeno." Rage helped Raven heal Xeno/Odin.

"Oh my." Star gasped.

She stood behind them. Yuri did not speak, but he put a strong, comforting hand on Raven's shoulder. That said plenty.

"Don't you die on me Xeno." Raven whispered.

A glimmer of hope shown on the brink of this nightmarish darkness. Silver sparks flew around Xeno/Odin and he slowly faded away. Raven held her GF pendant close.

"Hang on, Odin."

 ((*flashback ends*))

Raven had been what, 17 at the time? (a/n: if you're confused then read Perfect! You should've anyways if you're reading this right now = P) If Xeno had escaped death so easily twice before, then why couldn't he survive a little spear? He had survived being shot by soldiers and being decapitated by Seifer. So why couldn't he survive a trivial javelin? Rage knew how hard it must've been on Raven… In the past month she had lost her only daughter, her husband, and her adopted son was dying. Rage looked over at Raven and saw her eyes were squeezed shut.

"Make it stop." She whispered.

 It was the first time she'd spoken… tears were in her eyes, on her face, and her voice even seemed to be made of them. Rage frowned sympathetically. Even though Rage was younger by 2 years, he still played the big brother role when he had to. He shuddered. He had only been forced into that role maybe 6 times in his entire life. And then he knew Raven was in bad condition.

"Whaddya mean?" asked Rage softly.

"I close my eyes and it's –there-. Matt nearly being slashed to death and poisoned by that monster, Keiko being tortured, Xeno being killed… It's there. It's in my head… and it won't go away."

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to help you…" Rage sighed, feeling worthless.

"Just make it go away." Raven murmured almost inaudibly. She buried her head in his shoulder. He sighed…. This was a race against time…. And it seemed they were losing.

~*~

(a/n: please forgive the vagueness of this chapter…. Lolz. I got distracted while doing it, and it's short… the next chappy is gonna be LONG, and probably the last… so.. yeah. Thanks for reading! ~Sefie)