We're back! Hey, Raine, they're here.

Raine: ...My sympathy to them.

Why are you so evil to me? O.o

Raine: Let's think, shall we? You drop me from a Rheaird, have me arrested, nearly kill me with a deadly flower. The list goes on and on.

...I only hurt the ones I love.

Raine: Then I wish you would hate me.

Pshaw. Whatever...Okay! On to chapter twelve!

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"Raine, calm down."

"I don't...like...ships."

"I know. Calm down - nothing is going to happen to you."

If her body could tense any further, it did as the deck underneathe her lurched again. Her fear was arguing with him violently, telling her that yes, something would happen in this storm. A bolt of lightning split the sky, and a second later the corrosponding thunder just about cracked the very atmosphere. She felt two strong - if wet - hands close around the sides of her head, turning her face upward. "Raine," said Regal, shaking her gently. "It's alright."

Raine started to shake her head, but he tightened his hold. "It's alright," he repeated. She sunk lower as the boat lurched violently again, clinging to a box near her. Regal moved his hands to her upper arms, trying to calm her, to provide reassurance. "It's only a storm. There's nothing to worry about!"

It wasn't the storm she was frightened of, it was the ocean. The waves that crashed without mercy against the sides, the water that threatened to swallow her, should she slip and fall once more. The storm was only the breaking of the dam she'd set up, called self-control. The storm would be what caused her to fall, if it happened. But the water would be what drowned her. It wasn't the storm she was afraid of.

They had been on the deck when it started. She didn't know why she had decided to accompany him into the open sea air - perhaps because she didn't fancy being alone below with Deryn and her henchmen, even if they were locked away - but she had. Now they stood off to the side, with Raine digging her nails into the rope that bound the boxes together. The stairway was blocked now by several heavy pieces of cargo, else they would have gone below some time ago.

As another shot of thunder rolled across the sky, Raine flinched again, clinging more tightly to the rope. But it was wet, drenched just as she was, and her hand slipped. She yelped, half in surprise, half in alarm as she slid a bit, only to find her arms gripped still more tightly.

Soon, she was in his arms, just cowering as he held tightly. In the midst of of her terror, somewhere in her mind she was aware of the fact that he was holding her, that they were close. The nausea she already felt was complimented by a tightening in her stomach.

This thought was driven away by another, louder crack of thunder, and she balled his sleeves in her hands. "I really don't...like...ships," she whispered.

"Maybe I can help!" shouted a voice over the falling of rain and roaring of the waves. Raine lifted her face and turned her head in the direction it had come from.

There, standing on a pile of boxes were four figures, one unmistakably female, and all balancing quite miraculously. Regal never let go of her, but he, too, looked to the source of the exclamation. "Deryn," murmerred Raine, flinching as thunder sounded again.

The figures jumped down, led by Deryn, and approached the pair. They were all mutually soaked, but that didn't keep smirks from their faces. "How did you...get out?"

"That's not important, remember, Half-Elf?" Deryn jeered, not even having to steady herself against anything when the ship gave another lurch. "What is, is that your lives end here."

Regal watched her carefully, narrowing his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"You, sir. You and your little girlfriend there - lost at sea, we'll say. Regal Bryant drowned in a storm on his way to Sybak, and no one will ever have to know that the half-breed was alive to begin with. It's clean, effective...We will be completely free to do whatever we desire."

"People will...find it odd, that there have been," she flinched again at a lurch, "two deaths within the same few days, of two people who...were travelling together."

"Perhaps. But that in no way leads them to us," Deryn replied silkily. "Maybe some people who think too much wil realize something's wrong. But to them, we will simply be the messengers, and nothing more."

"You won't get away with it," said Regal, who had stayed quiet for most of this exchange.

"Oh, but I shall. What part of that were you not listening to, M'Lord? In the public's eye, we are mourning citizens of Tethe'alla, upset by the death of the Duke. A death we had to witness." She put a sad look on her fair face, before it returned to its former smirk. "And even if you survive - highly unlikely, of course - the storm will have carried you to some island in the middle of nowhere. Too far to ever return.

"Altamira will be in chaos, the Lezareno will fall in the absence of its president. Oh, it's perfect!" Deryn giggled. "But enough talk, the sea is calling you, my friends." She glanced back at David, Eric, and Matthew, and nodded.

The men advanced on them, and Raine felt the familiar sense of terror rise up again as she and Regal backed up a bit. This probably wasn't such a great idea, considering getting closer to the side of the ship only made them easier targets to shove off. They were ganging up on Regal now, seeing him as more of a challenge, and soon they were close enough. But Regal wasn't going down without a fight.

He released Raine and took up a balanced ready-for-anything pose. Deryn chuckled, staying behind her minions. "Looks like Bryant wants to play, boys. Let's show him a good time, shall we?"

Eric smirked, advancing with Matthew. When Regal tried to lash out with his foot - as he would never use his hands in battle again, as per his promise to Alicia - Matthew took hold of his ankle. With one jerk, he freed himself and sent the other man to the deck, temporarily stunned. Next to try his luck was the brown-haired one, the youngest looking one. Eric lunged, and Regal stumbled back just a bit from the force.

Recovering, Regal knocked him back with a sharp kick to the chest. But by this time, Matthew was on his feet again, and ready to go once more - and this time, he was armed with Deryn's recovered knife. The storm was still raging around them, and a crack of thunder split the sky as they faced eachother, both breathing heavily. The blade was raised and glinting as lightning flared, and Regal watched it closely. That would be the only problem here...

With a snarl, Matthew charged, but the Duke was ready for it. Flinging out a hand toward the other's wrist, he knocked the blade away into the storm, and grabbed the assaultor's arm. "This has to st--" Regal broke off with a strange sound.

Raine watched as Regal sunk to his knees on the lurching deck, thoroughly winded. His eyes were wie as he tried to catch his breath. David was standing behind him, a smug little smirk on his otherwise handsome features, holding Raine's own staff. He must have taken it with him after he kidnapped her. But no matter how he'd gotten it, he had obviously just thrust it into the Noble's back, and Regal was immobilized.

"Say goodbye, M'Lord," said David airily as he pushed him forcefully off with his foot, and Regal fell with a splash into the angry waters.

"Regal!" she cried, looking down. The nausea was overwhelming now, and she was fighting panic. But panic was winning as she turned to look at the three men once more. "Get..away...from me," she growled, trying to keep her voice steady and clenching her hands into fists. She wasn't a fighter like Regal was, and she was frightened. But she wanted to retaliate.

Unfortunately, the band of thugs had other plans. "No can do, sweetheart," said Matthew and he and Eric took her arms, and practically threw her off.

The scream she was about to emit was washed back as her lungs filled with icy, burning salt water. Her head broke the surface once, and she fought to keep it above water. But she didn't know how to swim - had never wanted to learn. She was terribly frightened of the ocean...Had never wanted to set foot in it ever again. Yet here she was, fighting for her life in the middle of the sea.

The water washed over her head again and she felt herself sinking downward. She used all the strength she could gather to get up again, but it was no use. She was drowning, and she knew it.

The last thing she knew was the sense of drifting weightlessly downward, toward the ocean floor, before her world went black.

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Yikes - that's not good.

Sheena: Tell me about it...

Ahh! Hey...Where'd Raine go? Raine's supposed to be here, not you!

Sheena: ...She left, shortly after Deryn reappeared.

Gah. I'll find her by the time the next chapter rolls around...-Sigh-