Lightning heaved a sigh. Oh, Hope was such a pain in the ass sometimes. Her little brother always slacked off, even though he always claimed he was strong. He even took up kendo, but of course, he wasn't that good. He was a cry baby, but whenever he cried, Lightning would always be there for a hug. He was just so damn cute. Of course, being the older sister, she'd always murmur in his ear:

"You need to toughen up kid. The world won't be nice just for you."

But no, today, he really was a pain in the ass. It was the first day of school. They both attended Chrysallis Academy, the most prestigious academy in their town, and they were late on the first day. Lightning really hated giving a bad impression. She tapped her foot impatiently on the sidewalk while tugging on her new sweater. They had to walk to school (in this case, run) and that took fifteen minutes. They were ten minutes late. Go Figure.

"Hope!" Lightning shouted at the window. A fain rustling was heard until the upper window opened to reveal a short boy with pale magenta hair and startling ice blue eyes. His confused expression quickly changed when he saw his sister's death glare fifteen feet below.

"C-Coming!" He stuttered back before scrambling down the stairs. A few pitter patters later, Hope was huffing downstairs, trying to catch his breath.

"I would leave you if you were any slower," Lightning said, annoyed. She adjusted her bag strap and started running down the road. "Keep up!" She called back. Hope shortly ran after her.

"Wait up!" He panted, as they both ran towards the academy.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Noctis sighed. Another day, another school; couldn't be any worse. The students chattered wildly in the classroom while he just sat idly in his seat. People were too intimidated by his demeanor, not that he cared.

First impressions, huh, he chuckled to himself, I bet they think I'm some emo kid who—

He was promptly cut off when he was literally tackled from the behind. His eyes were covered.

"Guess who?" A voice giggled. Noctis sighed.

"Vanille, is that you?" He said in a mock-puzzled tone.

"Oh cut it out Vanille, you know he knows you do this all the time." Another voice said, amused. Vanille uncovered Noctis' dark blue eyes to reveal a girl with pigtails and shockingly pink hair. She held a pout as her best friend, Fang shook her head. Vanille and Fang were seniors, and basically Noctis' neighbors. Noctis lived in an apartment, and coincidentally, he was right in between the two of them, in which they also moved in. They often crashed his place to play his Xbox, or tease him about his emo looks despite his fairly warm personality.

"You still haven't dyed your hair," Vanille pouted. "You'd look way more approachable as a blonde." Fang simply laugh over the possibility and Noctis gave her a glare.

"I'd rather keep my hair color, thanks." He grumbled. "I don't see why pink is an approachable color either." Vanille swatted him lightly on the head.

"It's cute," she replied, crossing her arms. "Plus, I don't get any complaints from Fang, right?" Fang shrugged, and grinned. "People don't ask me, so I'm cool with it." Vanille stuck her tongue out, a childish thing to do really. Noctis smirked.

"Whatever you say Vanille." He said innocently. "You kids will know your mistakes later in life." He was smacked again by Vanille.

"I'm older than you by three years." She huffed. "You should show some respect."

"Okay princess."

"Why you—"

"Class'll start soon, Vanille." Fang sighed, too used to their bickering. "We'll see you later, Noct." He nodded, and faced the blackboard once again.

As usual, the day started with the teacher introducing himself. He was a balding man with a name too boring to even remember. "So this is all your first day in first year," He practically said so dully, he probably said this every year. "I hope you've had a good summer, as for me…" He continued to give a detailed explanation, in which Noctis nearly dozed off.

"Now," the teacher said rather slowly, as if each word gave weight to his back. "Let's start with the attendance. If you're present, just say so."

After a few names, it was Noctis' turn.

"Caelum, Noctis Lucis." The teacher droned. A few stifled sniggers. Hmph, so what. It was a cool name in his opinion.

"Present," Noctis called out. A few were silenced when they realized who it was. Oh, so they really were scared of me. Awesome.

After several names, it came to the F list.

"Farron, Claire." No response. The teacher looked up from his list. "So I assume she is—"

Just then, the door opened to reveal a slightly panting girl. Her faded pink hair was plastered to her face.

"I-I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again." She immediately said, bowing very low.

"Err…I assume you are Claire Farron?" He said, mildly surprised at the formality. Noctis could've sworn that she flinched when her name was called.

"I—Yes, sir." She mumbled. The teacher nodded and checked his list.

"You may sit beside Mr. Caelum." He nodded to himself, while pointing at the empty seat right beside the guy. The girl's gaze lingered on Noctis for a while, and then hurried to her seat. This seems like an interesting person.

"So you're Claire—" He started to say, until he was cut off.

"Lightning." She stated bluntly, without facing him. "Call me Lightning." He was a bit ruffled, but he shook it off.

"Lightning it is, then."