Good day. I started writing this a few months ago and then forgot about it, but I guess I'll start writing it again. This is pretty much Shrek 3 told in Arthur's point of view, but with a few plot changes, so you won't just be reading exactly what happens in the film. Some things are pretty much the same, but I've changed some things as well to keep it interesting. Also, the beginning here has a bit of background on Arthur as well. The story follows Arthur, so Fiona and the princesses might not be in this story very much, if they are at all. I've got a few more chapters already written, but haven't finished this yet, so I'm not sure how it will end. :) So, enjoy:

Chapter 1

Something Arthur Pendragon often wondered about was the possibility of the entire world having a secret plot against him. It sounded crazy, but he couldn't recall ever having met anyone who was on his side. Even his own family seemed to be against him. His father had shipped him off to school far away from his home and he didn't even know his mother. She had either died when he was too young to have remembered anything about her, or perhaps she had run off somewhere. Arthur's dad never felt the need to tell him anything about his mother, so he didn't really know if she was alive or dead.

At his new school, he had been one of the smaller, younger students, was nervous, quiet, and honestly a great target for bullies. The school, Worcestershire Academy was a high school; most of the students there were between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. Arthur however, upon arriving, was only twelve. Arthur's father wanted to be rid of him as quickly as possible, it seemed, and bribed the administrators into letting Arthur into the high school earlier than the normal age requirement suggested. Arthur was embarrassed by the fact that he was younger than everyone else, so tried to pretend he was fourteen, fooling some, but not most. The other students took this opportunity to single him out as being odd, different, and therefore not cool. Not only did the other students bully him, but even the professors didn't seem to care when they witnessed one of the bigger students picking on Arthur. The professors would laugh at the jokes students made about Arthur, and do absolutely nothing to help him.

Because of this, Arthur learned quickly not to go to anyone for any sort of assistance. Everyone in the school seemed to take pleasure in seeing him hurt, so he knew not to trust anyone. At first, Arthur had tried to make friends, but after a while, he gave up on everyone but a girl named Gwen. He didn't know why he loved her so much. She made fun of him, just like everyone else, but something about her just made his heart ache. He didn't at all like how his life was going thus far, but thought if he could just have Gwen as his girlfriend, everything would be okay. He saw her as the most beautiful girl he had ever met, and at his young age, he didn't even consider her rude personality when he decided he loved her.

As much as he felt he was in love with her, however, the feeling was not mutual. Gwen turned him down every time, but she was the one person he wouldn't give up on. He had nothing to lose, so he would ask her to go on a date with him every so often, already knowing her answer, but hoping it might change. She would always make some sort of rude remark, Arthur would feel only slightly disappointed, as the reply was not at all unexpected, and then he would go about his day, trying his best to avoid everyone.

Arthur wished he had friends. Even the chess club and dungeons and dragons geeks had friends, each other, but would not accept him into their circle. The 'popular' kids didn't like the chess club or the kids who played dungeons and dragons, and made fun of them about half as much as they made fun of Arthur. Even though the geeky students were hated by the popular students, they would not be seen befriending Arthur either, just because they knew they would be seen as lower on the ladder of high school popularity rank. Everyone in the school already belonged to a social circle of some sort. Arthur, being a complete outcast, was not accepted into any of said circles. He was always on the lookout for new students, whom he could befriend before they learned of his reputation, but they would soon be snatched away and turned against him.

Because he had no friends, and didn't want to be bullied, he tried to spend most of his free time alone in his dorm room. He didn't have a room-mate, because no one was willing to room with him, so he would just sit alone and dream of a better life.

His room didn't provide complete safety, however. Sometimes when someone wanted to pick on him, they wouldn't wait for him to leave his room, but would rather come right in. The rooms didn't have locks on the doors, so if someone wanted to come into his room, they could easily do so, and sometimes did. Arthur also could not avoid being bullied during the day when he had classes and was forced out of hiding in order to attend class. He would skip class sometimes, but he could only skip so many times before the professors would keep a close watch over him and make sure he went to class, which he preferred not to have happen.

He wasn't getting good grades. He found keeping his limbs intact and preventing insults aimed at him was more important than making it to class on time. Being preoccupied with this allowed little time for him to manage any sort of school work, but he figured the teachers would probably all fail him even if he did go to class and do the work, as they all seemed to loathe him. Additionally, he had started school earlier than everyone else, and though he was now fourteen years old, he was still expected to know just as much as any other student who had been there for two years, even though they were all sixteen.

Today he was walking from the main building back to the residence building where the students' rooms were. It wasn't a long walk, but it was long enough for him to be spotted by Lancelot, the person who hated him more than anyone. Lancelot was the school jock and captain of the jousting team. He seemed to think it necessary to torment Arthur as much as possible, both because he found it funny as well as because he knew the other students would look up to him more for it. It was seen as 'cool' to bully Arthur, so he definitely needed to do so in order to upkeep his reputation.

"Hey, Loser!" Lancelot called from behind Arthur.

Arthur ignored him and quickened his pace. He couldn't count on anyone to help him, but thought maybe... just maybe, Lancelot would leave him alone once he reached his room.

No such luck... Lancelot quickened his pace as well, quickly catching up to Arthur, "Loser!" he yelled again, grabbing Arthur's shoulder roughly and turning him around, "Hey Loser... I'm talking to you."

Arthur frowned, "what do you want?" he asked, not wanting to talk in circles. If Lancelot was going to do something cruel to him, he'd rather just get it over with.

"What do I want?" Lancelot repeated the question, "I've got jousting practice, and none of the guys want to go up against me... because they know how good I am," he beamed, "So... I'm gonna need a target to practice on..."

Arthur's eyes widened. He had endured a lot over the years, but he had never been a jousting target. Jousting looked incredibly painful, and he was not going to let Lancelot use him as a practice target if he could avoid it. He shook his head, denying Lancelot's request, "No... I've got something else... I have to do..."

"It wasn't a question, Loser," Lancelot informed him, "I'm not asking you... I'm telling you. Now come on," he said, pulling Arthur roughly buy his arm.

"No!" Arthur gasped, trying with all of his strength to pull out of the older boy's grasp, "If you think I'm going to just sit on a horse and wait for you to hit me, you're wrong," Arther pleaded, "I'm not going to hold still and wait for you to hit me. You can drag me out there, but you can't make me stay."

"Oh, can't I?" Lancelot retorted, as he stopped dragging Arthur and turned to face him, "You can do this, or we can do something else... and the something else involves me breaking your arms... and you know I will..."

Arthur paled. He knew for a fact that Lancelot wouldn't hesitate to deliver on this threat. Lancelot had broken his arm once before, and his collar bone... and it was no accident, so Arthur knew he had no choice. He would either be the jousting team's practice dummy, or have his arms broken by Lancelot.

The thought of being the target scared him, but at least he would likely be wearing padding, and his bones would probably not be broken, though it was not guaranteed. At least this way he might get out of the situation virtually unharmed. He tried to prevent himself from shaking, because he knew it would only further Lancelot's jokes about him being a wimp. However, he was so nervous he couldn't stop himself from trembling as Lancelot dragged him along.

Before long, he was on the jousting field. Lancelot shoved a padded vest at him, with a wooden target sign on the chest. Arthur shakily put it on, feeling very embarrassed already. His embarrassment was furthered when Lancelot shoved a bucket with eye holes over his head, laughing with his peers as he did so.

Lancelot even went so far as to give Arthur a jousting lance of his own, but he knew the smaller boy wouldn't attempt to use it. Arthur knew any attempt to win the jousting match would probably only end in his arm being broken, as he didn't know how to use a jousting lance properly. It would be better for him to just let Lancelot do what he wanted and be done with it.

As Lancelot went over to his horse, Arthur climbed onto the horse at the other end of the field. The horse wasn't the tamest horse at the school, and if he could have chosen which horse to be near, this one would have been his last choice.

The horse seemed agitated, so Arthur patted it, "good horse..." he said, his voice shaking.

Lancelot, across the field, was now ready. Arthur braced himself, closed his eyes, and waited.

xxxxxx

Thank you for reading. Please review. and be nice, because this is my first Shrek story... I'm unseasoned as of yet in the Shrek department, so hopefully this is the sort of thing Shrek fans like to read. :) I'll be updating some time soon. Have a great day. :)