Chapter six - wow, I did two chapters yesterday. And one so far today...Yay! Here w take a break from Regal as he beats himself up all over again for a death that didn't actually happen, so we can pay a visit to Raine. Here we go!

---------------------------------

The first thing she felt when her mind had trotted back to the "Land of the Living" as Genis referred to conciousness, was pain. A stinging pain in her cheek. Before she could address it, she felt herself being dropped on the floor of some building. There was no snow, it had to be a floor and not the ground.

Last she remembered, she had been on the rocks, reminiscing. And someone had attacked her - but why? Her cloak was gone, she could no longer feel the cloth on her shoulders, but that was hardly a shock. If she had fallen to the ground when they'd hit her, and carried away, it could easily have gotten lost in the snow.

She gritted her teeth; she'd been weak. She had not retaliated with enough force, she had allowed it to happen to herself. But what, exactly, had happened? Where was she, and why?

"Get up." A female voice, from somewhere above her.

Raine opened her eyes slowly, to find herself staring into four faces. Three men, one woman. The latter looked to be the leader of this little gang, as the other three hung slightly behind her. The woman glared down at her as she sat up very slowly, and nodded to a man nearby. He bent down, took her arm, and pulled her roughly to her feet, before stepping back.

Raine gave him a sour glare, and returned a scowl to the woman. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Symphonia's purity," purred the blonde woman. "I am Deryn Salri, not that it much matters for you." She gave a laugh that Raine didn't like at all. "This is Eric," she nodded to a man with brown hair, "David," aurburn hair, tied in a low ponytail, "and Matthew." The last had short locks of black.

"What do you want?" asked the Half-Elf, reaching a hand up to feel the source of stinging pain on her cheek. She found blood, and grimaced. With another slow swipe, the wound was healed.

Deryn looked slightly taken aback by this. "Ahh, a healer we have boys," she giggled after a moment. "You will be more use than I thought."

"Use? In what?" Raine wanted to step backward, but she didn't. She wasn't about to show fear in the face of these thugs.

"That is not for you to know...Not yet." She stroked a feather that hung from a chain around her neck. "But you will know soon enough, Half-Elf."

"You won't get away with it," replied the mage after a moment of letting Deryn pet the feather almost compulsively. "I have a friend here, in Flanoir. He'll notice that something's wrong." Regal would come for her, right?

All three of them smiled now, and Deryn's was a highly amused grin. "You mean El Presidante? Highly unlikely, my dear."

Raine's stomach lurched - what had they done? "What did you do to Regal? If you've harmed him in any way..." She started toward Deryn, but David and Matthew each took one of her arms and held her back.

The woman's grin widened. "It's not him we've harmed, sweetheart. It's you...Or rather, soon everyone will think it was you."

"You're not making any sense," growled Raine, fighting against the hold she was now in. "I demand that you tell me what's going on. As a pawn in your little plans, I do think I deserve to know that much."

"Not very friendly, are we?" she giggled. "You're in no position to be making demands, you filthy half-breed." Her tone had changed dramatically, to that of pure loathing.

Raine tensed at this, clenching her fists. "Well I'm making one anyway," she snapped. "What did you do!"

Derny pursed her lips. "Fine," she sighed. "Your knight in shining armor won't be coming after you, because in his mind there is no one to come after."

"...What?"

"That's right." She smiled again. "He thinks you're dead. In fact, by this time I would imagine more than one person will believe that."

"You've told him...You've told him I died?"

"Mmmhm. Ah, look, she can be taught! Perhaps you're not as stupid as first I thought. Yes, love, we told him you were killed. He now thinks you were murdered heartlessly; thrown off the cliff never to be heard from again. It's perfect!"

Raine stared in horror at Deryn, her eyes wide. If Regal had believed them, and provided she knew him as well as she liked to think she did, he would be feeling a massive wave of guilt right about now. "How dare you..."

"Oh, don't get melo-dramatic." She rolled her eyes. "It's not as though anyone's going to miss a Half-Elf such as you. We just had to make sure no idiot would try to track you down...No loose ends, you know? It would be such a hassle to constantly be running from those you called friends. This way, you have dropped out of the population, and no one ever has to know otherwise."

The healer now looked disgusted. "You're sick," she growled.

"Thank you, dear," said the other, brightly. "From now on, missy, you're officially dead. Take her away, we leave at nightfall."

Raine gave her famous glare, struggling even as she was dragged away by the two men.

------------------------------------

Deryn appears to have some issues...A few loose screws, if you will. But right now, whatever she says goes...Afterall, a dead woman can't just resurface out of the blue.