A.N: Hello, thanks for reviews, hope you all had a good christmas, here's the fic:

Lost Again

14 days. Two weeks. A fortnight. Half a month. Dress it up as you like, call it what you want…however you referred to it, it would still feel like an eternity to Raine. Actually, it would probably feel like an eternity to anyone given the situation…being a prisoner was not the most mentally stimulating experience.

It was, however, an extremely emotionally draining experience…everyday left Raine feeling dull and hollow. The work was tedious, the day was long and the company was starting to grate at her nerves. Siofra was fine…but then, she only had to deal with the girl for maybe an hour a day. She appreciated her though. Most of the other prisoners were well past Raine's state of depression and had simply given up on the thought of escape.

There were a few who were being roused back into a decent mental state. Words of an escape plan were slipping through, whispers of a rebellion lead by an outside party that were infiltrating the organisation. Apparently, they were already here. Already working…but they needed the support of the prisoners.

Raine gave hers willingly, knowing somehow that it was her friends and that they would do everything to help the slaves escape.

The problem was…Raine was giving so much of herself now that she wasn't sure there would be much left of her to rescue in the end. And that wasn't her opinion. It was what all the other half-elves were saying…warning her not to get too involved, to give too much or she would lose herself.

She carried on regardless. She was nothing if not tenacious and she would see this through to the end, even if it did destroy her.

It wouldn't though…Raine would make sure of that. She wasn't the pathetic slip of a girl that everyone thought she was. She was Professor Raine Sage. She had been confronted with oppression and racism before and not once had she crumbled. This would be no different. You didn't face Yggdrasill and win by being some slip of a girl.

Or so she told herself.

If she was honest…she was starting to rely on her brother more and more for the support she needed to go on with. He was younger, hopeful and enthusiastic. Hell, he wasn't just that, he was actively showing a nihilistic side that Raine hadn't seen before.

Raine had no doubt that Kratos and the others would get her out but she was beginning to doubt herself.

She shook her head and stood, hearing the guards by the door getting ready to unlock. 'Trained' sprang to mind.

No. Not trained, just eager to start preaching to the masses again, instilling the sense of hope that was needed.

Raising her head, she painted on her look of determination that she knew everyone needed to see and waited patiently for the guard to unlock her door, before she strolled out of her cell, her supporters gathering around her, ready to show their quiet resistance to the system.

--

"Do you intend to do anything today Genis? Or are you just going to sit there?" Raine asked, a little irritably. The boy had been sat there doing nothing since they had arrived, just staring blankly at the hatch that usually contained the mana of the half-elf that powered the project. Usually. He or she wasn't there today and they lack of that familiar mana was oddly disconcerting.

"I've told you, Raine. I refuse to work for a project that'll end in the destruction of our race…"

"Genis if you don't work they'll find out and…"

"And what?"

"…I wouldn't like to think of the consequences."

Genis brushed a piece of dirt from his grey clothes, resuming his blank stare at the wall.

"…These are not people we can afford to push, Genis."

"They're not people." He muttered in return.

"Be that as it may, they do have the power to kill us and if you want to help every other half elf in here then you need to survive."

"But Raine…"

"I know Genis," she sighed, putting a clipboard down on the desk "I know…we need to find out if there've been any advancements in the project…can you go and find out?"

"But that's…"

"Necessary. We need to know how much time there is before the project is complete."

Snorting, Genis slid from the table, pacing over to the door and glancing through the glass panel for any signs of guards before slipping out into the adjoining work areas.

Raine rubbed a hand through her hair slowly as she turned back to her work. So much for getting support from her little brother, he was becoming more and more argumentative everyday. She had no doubts that if the guards found that Genis wasn't working, there would be some heavy punishment…

Silence reigned without her brother's presence and Raine lifted her eyes to the ceiling as if searching for a god before going back to scanning the complicated list of symbols representing mana signatures of half-elves, comparing them with the list of genetics for each person.

There was certainly a pattern emerging but she wondered how long she could keep that quiet for, how much time she could buy for her race. She had to admit, Genis had a point with refusing to work…the humans couldn't complete this project on their own, they neededpeople who could sense mana signatures and had the intelligence to know what to do with the information they got from it. At the moment, there appeared to be only two…her and Genis and with one refusing to work, it meant progress was painfully slow for them.

A loud crash broke Raine out of her thoughts suddenly and she jumped to her feet immediately, crossing the room to look through the glass door within a few seconds. There was nothing in the corridor immediately outside the lab, and she pressed herself against the door, trying to open it quietly and slip through.

She took a left once out, slipping into the lab where the crashing had come from, jogging to the main part of the room to investigate.

It was a mess, in short.

Blood was spilt over the floor, broken glass scattered over the white tiles, pages of data soaking up the blood.

And in the midst of it all were two half-elves. She didn't recognise the older one but there was no mistaking the silver hair of the young man that was pushing himself to his feet, blood staining his uniform.

It was a relief to see that it wasn't his blood, but that of a tray of samples the other half-elf had been carrying before…whatever had happened, happened.

It wasn't however, to know that after 5 years the youth had still not outgrown his amazing ability to trip over either nothing, or himself.

"What the hell?"

Raine spun towards the source of the question, identifying it one of the two guards from the lab's entrance, being drawn in by the commotion. Tensing, she looked to Genis, motioning for him to slip down one of the rows of cubicles and muttering apologies to the scientists left behind as she followed him, ducking below the level of the desk.

"Who's responsible for this?!...Own up now and we might make things a bit easier for you…"

Raine winced as she bumped into Genis who had stopped and turned, clearly having decided that now was the appropriate time to grow a backbone and admit that it was his fault.

Him. He who wasn't even supposed to be in this area.

She glared, sending him another gesture to get back down and keep moving. When he failed to do so Raine pulled her brother to the floor, grabbed him by the ear and proceeded to pull her the boy along after her, twisting his ear when he started to complain.

With one hand occupied as it was, she found she had great difficulty pulling the heavy door open whilst crouched and while struggling against her brother.

Eventually, she managed to pull him out into the corridor, glancing around for anymore guards before taking a firmer hold of her brother by the front of his shirt, dragging him into the lab before roughly releasing him.

Wordlessly, Genis turned, marching straight for the door again and it took all Raine's effort to swing him around so that she was standing between him and the entrance again.

"Raine! Don't you understand that those people are going to suffer if I don't own up?!"

She slapped him, hard, across the face, an action she hadn't had to resort to for some years now.

"Don't you understand that if they find out you were in there when you were supposed to be in here and that you caused that accident you'll be in for a lot worse?"

He glanced to the door, eyes widening slightly as his sister stepped forwards, cupping the cheek she had just slapped in her hand, the coolness of it taking away the heat radiating from the reddened cheek.

"I can't lose you Genis…I can't lose the only family member I have because he wants to act irrationally. I won't let you go in their and sacrifice yourself…"

"Uh, Raine…"

"What?"

"You know…that's very touching," the voice was slow, the words drawn out deliberately for effect. Raine felt her stomach twist itself into a knot, a lump of anxiety rising into her throat as she recognised the voice. Her eyes flicked up to meet her brother's, scared and subdued now, and she turned slowly, cursing herself for being so wrapped up in anger that she hadn't heard the door opening…hadn't sensed the presence of the guard that had followed them into their lab.

"…but it's a punishable action anyway…" the guard continued.

"No." Her voice wavered on the single syllable, scared for her brother.

The guard laughed "It's not like you have a choice here 1017. 1018 has broken a law of this camp and must be punished…you're lucky I'm not going to do anything to you for harbouring him."

"You can't…"

"No,sweetheart I can." He strode forwards, drawing a beating stick out of its loop, holding it loosely in his hand as he stood in front of her.

"Raine…just let me go, I'll be fine and there's no point in you getting hurt too…"

"There's every reason, Genis!" she stated, pushing him backwards and she back peddled.

"You're really too sweet, aren't you 1017?"

The guard turned to the door, calling the guard waiting outside in for back-up. The other man grinned in response, bursting into the room eagerly, a whip already drawn in his hands.

"We've got a protective older sister," the first guard stated.

"A sister!? Wow…I mean, a woman, how….pathetic…"

She growled low in her throat. She wasn't just a woman…she was Raine Sage and she was going to lead these half-elves out of here, along with her brother.

Raine sank back slightly, her muscles tensing, waiting for the guard to approach her. His hand closed roughly around her bicep and a second later he found himself thrown to the floor, staring up at the ceiling as his partner was attacked.

It was a scene he would've found funny, if it weren't for the sudden, blinding pain in his crotch from the boy.

And then there was a sharp crack, the sounds of a struggle stopped and… "Raine!!"

He climbed to his feet, shakily, glaring at the boy who suddenly shrank away- his eyes locked onto the form of his sister, hanging in the other guards arms.

Genis watched in horror as the silver hair around Raine's crown turned red as she dangled in the guards arms. She was conscious…just about anyway, hazy, her senses dulled, but she was still aware of the fact that something, and she didn't know what, was about to happen to her brother.

So she continued to struggle, paddling through clouds of fog, her head being lifted slowly under her own will…stubborn as always.

Genis smiled…he wouldn't have her any other way and the smile turned into a grin even as his arms were pinned behind him by the other guard and he was dragged towards the door.

It pained him to see his sister in such a state but he knew that she was the only person in this place who had the presence to inspire the other captives, to rouse them to the state of hope they needed to escape.

He stretched forwards in the guards arms, calling out to her in the Elven language giving the final bit of hope and reassurance he could before he was taken away.

He didn't know how long it would be before he'd see her again and without a second thought about he cried to her as he was pulled out the door.

"Love you, sis!"

And for once he wasn't embarrassed to say it in front of other people.

--

She was dropped onto the floor, she knew that much, but all she could think of at the moment was that he was gone. She had lost him. Again.

This time though, she wasn't sure he'd be coming back and she wished she'd called back to him, replied to his statement of love for her.

There wasn't much she could do at the moment though. Her head was throbbing and she was only vaguely aware of her guard muttering something about 'checking on her', the words thick and nearly senseless through the pain.

Raine closed her eyes, breathing heavily, feeling hot liquid on her scalp but not having the presence of mind to care as she felt her senses dull and her consciousness creep away.

--

It was grey, and it wasn't her lab. It was her cell.

Raine jerked awake, eyelids heavy with sleep as realisation dawned on her, lucidity slapping her in the face despite the head wound she knew she had sustained yesterday.

"Hey…" Raine turned her head sharply to the girl that was sitting beside her, wishing she hadn't when nausea crashed over her. "Up and at 'em."

"…Siofra….what time is it?"

"Uh…morning? You've been unconscious since yesterday. A couple of the guards brought you in with that injury…said something about you fighting them…"

"Yes, yes…I did…attack one of the guards," she smiled half-heartedly at the pink-haired girl.

"Nice one but uh…why?"

"…Genis…they took Genis and it's my fault…if I hadn't said anything the guard wouldn't have overheard and…"

"Hey!" she looked up at the sharpness in Siofra's voice, unused to the shrill tone "None of that attitude, remember? We're not allowed to dwell, gotta move forwards."

"But…"

"Your brother will be fine…remember how you told me my little sister would be OK when I was worried about her being on her own?"

"Yes but…"
"Raine Sage, get up and face the day with me. You won't help your brother by sitting here, and from what you've told me of him, he wouldn't let you do it either. Did he tell you to sit here and mope?"

"...he told me that he loved me…"

"And.?"

"…he told me to get everyone out of here and keeping working at the plan…"

"So that's what we've gotta do then."

A hand gently tugged at her bicep and Raine pulled herself to her feet, letting Siofra steady her once again.

"Let's get through another day Raine, go for it once again…"

"…with feeling." Raine murmured, finishing Siofra's motto and the young woman smiled.

"Exactly."

--

With feeling. That was a joke, Raine thought, sitting at her desk and finding herself staring blankly at her blood on the tiled floor of the lab.

She stood, sighing, walking to the hatch containing the nameless half-elf battery, noting distantly that the purple-blue light of the mana was spilling out into the white room again, meaning that he, or she, at least was alive. It was odd that they kept taking it away and bringing it back though.

Maybe they were on their last legs.

Raine certainly felt like she was and she returned to her chair to stare idly at the list she had been working on before the events of yesterday, endless columns of numbers and symbols spilling down the page, black ink marring the white surface.

It was a boring job usually, but today Raine found it…Monotonous? Tedious? Mind-numbing? She didn't think there was a term strong enough to describe it at the moment.

Genis would've found something…Genis would've found a way to make the work seem less pointless and wearisome. But he wasn't here now. Obviously.

She leant her head back, staring at the clock on the wall that she had never noticed before today, watching as the second hand fell again and again, fulfilling its duty.

Tick.

She blinked.

Tock.

She breathed out.

Tick.

She breathed in.

Tock.

She lost the will to live.

--

Back in the cell. Again.

Raine did nothing more than curl herself into a ball on the bed, wrapping her arms around her legs, staring at the wall as cold tears escaped eyes she didn't realise were wet. They ran unchecked, unseen…nearly unnoticed.

Button pushing time! Please? Tell me what you think of this chapter and...stuff.