Chapter seven comes, and brings with it the distress of a certain fourteen year old.

My shortest chapter yet, I'm sorry...But I didn't have any more to say on Genis after this...

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The sun had set, and night came on even colder than in Flanoir for a Half-Elven boy of fourteen. The paper was clenched in his stiff hand, and his violet-blue eyes locked on the words that were printed on it. He was unable to move, unable to speak. Unable to think, his body was so numb.

He had to have read it wrong, he had to have misunderstood. It couldn't really say that Raine was dead - could it? His hand had started to shake, making the paper rustle softly. But nothing mattered; nothing except the message sent from Regal Bryant.

Sitting in his room in the Palmacosta inn, Genis couldn't believe it. It wasn't real, because his sister could not be dead. "She can't be," he croaked. His hand clenched into a fist, crumpling up the paper with it.

There came a knock on the door, and he looked up robotically. It took him three tries to form the words "Come in," but when at last he managed it, the door was opened by Lloyd, with Colette smiling over his shoulder. "Hey, Genis!" said the adolescent swordsman, leading his other friend into the room. "We were close to Palmacosta, so we decided to stop by and--huh?"

Evidentally he'd just noticed the look on the now-pale boy's face. "Genis? What's wrong?" asked Colette, sitting down beside him on the bed. "You look so sad. Did something happen?"

"Yeah, Genis. What's up?"

"Note from...Regal," Genis said, weakly.

"Regal? What did he want?" asked Lloyd, frowning.

"R-Raine...He told me that...Raine..." But he couldn't bring himself to say it. Somehow, if he said it, it would all make it true, definate; final. As if by saying it, he would be the one to kill her. So, wordlessly, he held out the paper.

"Professor Sage?" Colette tilted her head as Lloyd took the message and read it over quickly. His expression changed drastically, from confusion to horror. The former Chosen snatched the paper out of Lloyd's slackening grip. In a moment, she gasped. "No!" she cried. "It isn't true!"

"Regal wouldn't lie about this, Colette," Lloyd said, looking utterly stunned.

"But...B-But..." She bit her lip, tearing up. But Genis wasn't paying attention to them. Regal wouldn't lie about it...But he would let her die. He had let her die, he hadn't been there to do anything for her. He had left her alone, giving the perfect time for it to happen!

He gave a start as he realized the wording he'd used. And he knew as soon as he'd said it that it was true - his sister wasn't coming back. She wasn't going to visit him at the academy. She wasn't going to be there for him anymore. Because she was dead.

"Genis...I'm sorry," said Lloyd, utterly at a loss for words. "I just...I don't believe it."

"Neither do I," replied the mage, staring blankly at the door. "But it's true."

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I'm sorry, Genis. Life is full of surprises, good and bad. But don't blame Regal...He blames himself enough for the both of you.