Chapter 3: Tenacity

"It looks like rain."

Raine peeked over the warm-colored autumn treetops at the gradually darkening sky in the distance. The clouds would probably reach them by early evening. No doubt it would tear off all the beautifully shaded leaves, with their fiery reds, oranges and golds. This vast array of colors was one of the few things unchanged by the gradual declination of the world. As much as Raine would have loved to stand there and admire the soon-to-be-washed away beauty, she could not ignore the deafening screaming of her arms, telling her to dump out the two buckets of dishwater they were carrying. With a not-too-lady-like grunt, she hauled her burden over to the edge of the forest and slowly emptied each container.

I should consider myself lucky, she had to keep reminding herself, I'm very lucky that I have a job at all. People usually didn't hire strangers who just wandered into town. Especially odd, young strangers with odd, bleach-white hair. Even if it was just grunt-work, she was lucky to have gotten a job from anyone. This thought was about the only thing that kept Raine going through the day without losing her sanity.

The girl sighed and turned around to observe the large, two-story inn she'd been working at for the past four weeks. The vast, ash-colored roof matched the smoke coming from its multiple chimneys. The many windows were old and frosty, surrounded by honey-painted wooden panels and the occasional incinerator. She was gradually growing to hate the place more and more. This really wasn't any fault of the building itself; it was the people. However, once two things have been mentally connected it's not easy to separate them, so she went on hating the whole thing.

Lifting the buckets over her shoulder, she headed towards the back door and shoved it open with her foot. A blend of familiar smells greeted her as she walked inside: spice, roasted meat, old timber, hay, and the unpleasant scent that results from a massive gathering of people. This could be blamed on the on the fact that it was nearing the end of the harvest season and farmers were traveling all over, trying to sell their crops before winter came. Raine wrinkled her nose as she dumped the buckets at the side of the back hallway before making her way to the kitchen.

Just as she was about to turn into the working area, she stopped. That's right, she had gone to the back courtyard for two reasons. Thanking the Goddess that the back hallway was empty, she rushed back the way she had come, slipping outside as quietly as she could. After once again checking to make sure the coast was clear. Raine sped across the yard to an area behind the building to her left. This place was also owned by the inn, and had been converted into a storage area. Behind this was a small, would-be tool shed. "Would-be" because it had recently been emptied and remodeled to be a make-shift sleeping quarters for a traveling young girl and her little brother.

Reaching the establishment, Raine creaked open the door and kicked the dust off her shoes, although the floor was plenty dirty already. The only furnishings the room had to offer were two straw-mattress beds, both thin and worn from use. A cheap wooden case lay open on one of them, with mismatched articles of clothing and a few books scattered in and around it. One of the books was open at the foot of the bed, seemingly forgotten. Raine scrutinized the area, but could not seem to locate a certain somebody.

"Genis?" she called softly, stepping into the room.

"Hey, Sis!"

The girl yelped in surprise, whirling around to see the small, grinning face of a silver-haired boy hiding behind the door. Sensing the violence that would soon follow his sister's disapproving expression, Genis made a running jump and landed on the far side of his own bed. He positioned himself so that his legs were dangling off the edge and smiled at her as innocently as he could manage.

Raine sighed and rubbed her neck, quelling her usual rage for the sake of the situation. She glanced at the open volume on the opposite bed before addressing the boy.

"Genis," she began, in a tone more suitable for someone twice her age, "have you been snooping through my books again?"

The four-year-old pouted and kicked his legs at the air.

"It's not like there's anything else to do around here," he muttered as his sister picked up her copy of Magitechnology: The Flourishing Age and skimmed the lines of microscopic text.

"Do you even understand any of this?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah!" he shouted immediately, then much more quietly, "sometimes." He brightened up quickly, however, and hopped off the bed, running over to his older sibling.

"Hey! Since you're home early, that means you have the rest of the day off, right? Can we walk around town or something? Please? I'm tired of sitting around here all day!" He gazed up at her with large, pleading eyes.

Raine slowly closed the book and dropped it back onto the thin mattress. She then knelt down so she was level with her little brother and gently cupped his face in her hands, locking their eyes.

"Genis, listen to me. I'm sorry, but I only came to tell you that I have to work late today. I know, I know," she stopped Genis as he began to protest, "I promise I'll spend more time with you soon, but right now we really need the money. You'll have to stay here on your own for tonight. Keep the door closed and don't open it for anyone except me, okay? Do you understand?" Genis didn't meet her eyes, instead staring at the dirt-covered floor, but nodded slowly.

"Good," she said with a smile and kissed him quickly on the forehead, "I'll be back late tonight, okay?"

"Kay…" mumbled Genis too softly for her to hear as she rushed back outside.

The sun, currently at its highest point in the sky, slightly farther south because of the season, began its slow, predictable journey westward towards the horizon. Those moving beneath it, however, weren't nearly as methodic. They dodged around from here to there, doing this, that and the other. Somehow each task was completed despite accidents, obstacles and spills along the way. Raine was possibly the most mobile of them all. It seemed like every minute she narrowly avoided a fatal collision as she rushed around her coworkers to finish her assignments.

As the day began to come to an end, gray clouds blanketed the sky. An unnatural, inexplicable calm came over the town. People still rushed through their jobs, yet went about it much more quietly, as if making too much noise would bring about some sort of calamity. Raine flinched at the clatter made by her tray of dirty dishes as she set them on a table to rest her arms. She exhaled and propped her elbows on the aged wood, then glanced out the window to her left that faced outside the front of the inn. The road was empty and stretched far into the woods that surrounded the town. The front door banged open, and she saw one of her coworkers dash in from the corner of her eye. She ignored him, however, and continued to stare outside.

"Boss!" she heard him shout, catching the attention of everyone else in the room, "Boss! We've got trouble!"

At the end of the road, the shadows beneath the trees seemed to shift and change, growing into moving forms. They multiplied gradually, numbering a dozen at least, and continued to grow.

"Quit 'cher yammerin'! What's wrong?" snapped the gruff voice of her employer.

As the figures crept closer, they began to take shape. Each one carried a long, pike-like object, or a mace, or a sword. Their numbers were at least thirty by now. Raine's chest and throat tightened, shortening her breath.

"Th-they're coming!" he continued, his voice shaking.

They marched forward quickly, methodically, like soulless machines. Machines clad in silver and blood-red armor. Raine unconsciously stepped away from the window.

"D-Desians!"

There was a strange, terrifying moment of silence as the word sunk in. An explosion from outside broke the calm, and panic ensued. Nearly every woman in the room screamed. Dishes were shattered and chairs were overturned as hundreds of footsteps deafened any other noises. Windows were broken in a frantic attempt to escape, to keep from being caught. Logic and reason had been thrown away, replaced with animalistic reaction, in the face of life-threatening danger.

Raine had stayed for none of this, of course. She had bolted into the back halls as swiftly as she could, away from the crowded main hall. Away from the screams and shouts and people tripping over one another in an attempt to save their own lives. She didn't care. She slammed into a corner, bruising her arm, but continued running. Dammit, why'd they have to show up now?! Was the entire universe that bent on keeping her from peace? And Genis… why should a toddler have to go through all this?!

Raine slammed sideways into the door, fumbled to turn the handle, then shoved it open with more force than necessary. She stepped outside, gasping, into a wave of heat and stared in disbelief at the storage house next door. It was on fire. They were actually going to burn down the town. A pair of Desians stood with their backs to her, silhouetted by the inferno. They were shouting about something. Raine didn't care to find out what, turning on her heels and dashing towards the other alley next to the inn. At the sound of armored boots thumping on the ground she skidded to a stop, kicking up the loose dust beneath her feet. Crap! She didn't have any time!

In a few mere moments, a trio of Desians rounded that corner into the back courtyard. They marched to the back exit and one, a superior by the design of his uniform, methodically directed the other two. They beat down the back door and dashed inside. Their commanding sergeant then turned and shouted at the pair near the burning storage house. They started and quickly saluted as he approached. After a few violently-given orders, the two soldiers hurriedly marched towards the town, closely followed by the officer. The chimes of a shattered window resounded and the two that had entered the inn came out shortly after. One of them called some morbid joke to the other, and the pair laughed as they chased after their colleagues.

Raine stayed frozen where she was, barely daring to breathe, for what felt like an eternity until she was certain they had gone. Very slowly, very carefully she pushed open the lid of the incinerator where she had hidden at the last second. She was covered in ash now, and it wasn't the easiest place to breathe, but it was better than being caught. She could see no one, and any of the audible screams or yells were far enough away to be of little to no concern to her. Raine painfully squeezed out of her hiding spot and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Her mind gradually began to slow down from the heart-pounding experience and sort what her priorities were at the moment. She shakily got to her feet and shook her head, then began a slow, unsteady run towards the back of the storage building. The exact same path she had taken a few hours ago. Ages it seemed now.

As she passed the crumbling, crackling building, her stride faltered. The last steps she took were purely on impulse. On the ground, in a dying bed of flames, lay the smoldering remains of what had been their living quarters for the past month. Waves of heat and tiny shreds of ash beat down on the glowing fractions of charcoal from the building behind her. She could not discern between what had been the walls, or the roof, or the furniture, or anything else that may have been inside.

A small stream of thought in the back of her head told her that it was too hot, standing between a blazing inferno and this smoldering pile of ash. She moved, slowly and with little purpose, back into the courtyard. Even when tiny drops of water began pelting her neck and shoulders, she made no sign of notice. Raine walked until she reached the center of the yard, then allowed gravity to drag her down to her knees.

The sky was darkening, both from the thick storm clouds and the rising smoke, carrying with it the ashes of anything, or anyone, lost in the fire. At the base of her ribcage a pocket of aching began and spread throughout her chest. It tightened her dry, thirsty throat, shortening her breath. As the rain fell harder, deafening all other sounds, Raine bent her head to her knees and began to cry.

She cried, and cried, and continued to cry as the flames of their misfortune were doused by the increasing downpour. The water flattened her pale hair and ran down her face, washing the salt off her cheeks. She cried, and her wails gradually diminished into soft sobs. The rain, as if resounding to her despair, began to let up as well.

Through the now slowing plops of water on wet ground came another, unnatural noise. A long, wailing cry of some sort. A bird? No. A child?

Raine bolted upright, straining her ears to locate the sound. It couldn't be… could it? She scrambled to her feet, nearly slipping on the now muddy ground. The noise had to be coming from the forest. There was nowhere else anyone could've been hiding. She dashed over and kicked through the thickets lining the edge, stumbling into the sea of trees. The crying became more distinct now, although it was still muffled by the rainfall.

For many frantic minutes, Raine zigzagged through the wet trees searching for the source of the fluctuating sound. She ran, halting and doubling back whenever she felt the voice was getting softer. Finally, as she stepped over and around the monstrous roots of a thick oak tree, she found a partially flooded hollow in the dirt. Sitting in the middle, clutching at a brown suitcase and bawling his eyes out was the one person she had been living for these past three excruciating years.

"Genis?" she spoke, her voice dry and raspy from both crying and running. The four-year-old immediately quieted and squinted up at her through red, swollen eyes. He looked down and rubbed the tears away with his fists before double taking. His mouth fell open comically for a moment before he blurted out some exclamation that may have been "sis" and latched onto her muddy legs, crying once more. His sister fell to her knees and clutched his close, biting her lip to keep from reacting as he did.

They sat there for several minutes wrapped in each other's arms. Secure. Inseparable. Raine cooed consoling words into his ear until his tears ran dry, and still he continued to cling to her and the rain around them continued to pour.

Finally, Raine loosened her grip and gently pulled him away so they were face to face. She smiled warmly, pushing his wet bangs away from his forehead, then turned serious.

"Genis, we have to go."

"Now?" he asked with a loud sniff, rubbing his eyes again.

"Yes, now," she repeated, standing up and retrieving their suitcase.

"But what about the other people?" he questioned tiredly.

Raine stopped, sighing, and turned to face him. "We can't afford to worry about them."

"But-"

"Genis!" she snapped, and this time he heard the weak, almost crying desperation in her voice. The uncertainty, and the fear.

"…Okay," he consented, slowly rising to his feet.

Raine took his hand in hers and carried their luggage in the other. She began leading him deeper into the forest. Away from the inn. Away from the fires. Away from the Desians.

I cannot tell you how much trouble the chapter gave me. Especially around the middle part. I got the worst case of writer's block there. It's definitely my least favorite part of the chapter.

Sorry about the horrible lateness of it all. I was really trying not to do that. ^^; At least it's not a year later, right?

Thank you so much to Khelc-sul Renai for your reviews! And everyone else who still faved or put it on alert. I really appreciate it.

Now, I am in no way giving up on this project, but I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be up. I really don't have a good grip on the plot for that one yet. So don't be surprised if that takes a while as well.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, and thank you for reading. :)