Alright I am afraid this idea wouldn't leave me alone, so here it is…

Summary: A young boy orphaned and trapped within a ranch. Knowing only his name and a world of brutal confinement, he finds a chance to escape and he takes it, longing to discover where he belongs. But how far will it take him… and when will he stop running?

Where I Belong

Chapter 1:

Fourteen years to day. Fourteen years of scars, long and crisscrossing across his back. Fourteen years of long days, moving large stone blocks endlessly in circles as the sun shone relentlessly upon them. Fourteen years of living in cold, bare cells of metal bars and black nights. Many would have long broken down, pushed past their limits. He had been there longer than any, though it mattered not; he was merely another prisoner to feed. There were no honors for lasting this long, nor did he expect any. It was just another day of shouting, straining, sweating.

He counted down the seconds till the guards would come to his cell. Counting down the seconds until he would be reunited with other people again. He wasn't sure why he was isolated. He never used to be, just this last year. Perhaps he was different, but he didn't care.

He had gotten use to the silence. In a way it was comforting; he no longer could hear the pitiful cries and moans of other prisoners as the nursed their fresh wounds. Also he had an entire cell for himself; it allowed him to practice in silence.

Practicing was the one moment he enjoyed immensely. It was mere luck that he had found two thick branches outside; to him they looked like swords, though they were slightly rough. He managed to sneak them back to his cell along with a sharp stone. He spent hours whittling and smoothed the coarse grains, shaping it slowly into a pair of blades. He didn't know why he wanted two, but they looked much stronger considering he had nothing for a shield and two swords were stronger than one. He had gotten quite good with them, parrying and fencing against imaginary foes.

Footsteps and the sound of a door opening caused him to shift his eyes casually to the side. "Five, four, three, two, one…"

"Alright you, get up. Time to go." Lloyd glanced at the man waiting for him on the other side of the bars. He was a Desian. That is what all the soldiers here were called. Somebody once told him that there were thousands of them, spread out across the world. He didn't remember who told him that.

Lloyd pushed himself from the wall and walked to the door, waiting as the Desian unlocked the door. He didn't struggle or resist as the soldier grabbed his arm and began leading him up the stairs. He wasn't in the mood for another whipping.

They soon emerged out outside. Lloyd blinked a couple of times, allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. He noticed other prisoners were already shoving their blocks. Strange, they must have started them early today.

Lloyd walked away from the Desian and approached a large, grey block. He planted his hands firmly on the coarse side and pushed against it. It protested at first, but Lloyd simply applied a little more force and it soon slid effortlessly across the dirt.

Strangely enough, though he never really thought about it, he never felt worn out or tired after these little exertions anymore. It was no longer a challenge it seemed to move the heavy stone across the grounds of the ranch. It was also another perplexity that the whippings never hurt. He knew they slashed his back, he could feel the force of the blow as it tore his skin, yet it no longer hurt. It wasn't always like this, just the past year.
Lloyd frowned, as he unconsciously slowed his pace to match the prisoners ahead of him. Now that he thought about it, it was about that same time that he found he wasn't hungry anymore. More than once he had given his food to one of his cell mates, though the tried to refuse. It was also around the time he stopped sleeping. He knew it wasn't normal, for he saw everyone else eating and sleeping whenever possible. Perhaps that is why he was isolated, because he was so different and he didn't belong with the other prisoners.
It was always one question he had asked himself as he sat in the silent cell. Where did he belong? He had no memory from before the ranch. The Desians had told him that his parents were dead, but he didn't know if to believe them. They told that to everyone who came here. Lloyd had only one thing from his forgotten past, his exsphere. When he had been found with it, he had refused to let it go. No matter how many times they struck him with the whip. Finally they had simply attached it to him.

At first it had made him extremely sick and delirious. He vaguely remembered seeing strangers crouched over him, feeding him and giving him water. It was a few days later when he finally came to.

Lloyd glanced at the strip of cloth covering his hand, hiding the gem beneath it. It wasn't that nobody was supposed to see it, everyone had one here, but he had something that none of the other prisoners had.

It hadn't taken him long to figure out what was causing him to feel sick and so tired after working all day. He had also noticed that the Desians had strange, golden metal circlets attached to their exspheres. They never seemed to get sick, so he assumed that was what he was missing. He lured one of the soldiers away from the others and jumped him, knocking him out cold with a heavy stone. Before the others noticed the missing man, he had snatched the crest and quickly applied it to his exsphere and bound a piece of rag around it. Immediately he felt a change, he no longer felt tired and nauseated, but strong and more alert.

Of course he had been punished for attacking the soldier, but to him it was worth it had been worth it. That had been nearly seven years ago. He believed that is how he survived for so long. When every one of his friends began to die one by one, he realized that he was alone in the ranch. He no longer tried to make friends. He helped the other prisoners, but he never allowed himself to grow close to anyone. It had hurt too much to allow anyone that close again.

Shouting brought Lloyd out of his musings and he stopped pushing his block. He straightened and looked to where the commotion was taking place. Half way through the line he saw a young girl crouched on the ground, struggling to rise at the Desian's orders, but fell again. She couldn't be more than ten years old.

The Desian shouted something that Lloyd took to be 'piece of crap' and raised his whip. Lloyd didn't hesitate. He darted around his block and launched himself between the whip and the girl just as the whip snapped through the air and slashed his back. He winced, though it didn't hurt. He couldn't allow the others to know.

The girl looked up fearfully and stared frighteningly at the young man over her. She whispered thank you before Lloyd was roughly grabbed and thrown to the ground.

The Desian growled, "What do you think you are doing? Do you want a whipping to?" He smiled.

Lloyd pushed himself from the ground, "I will take her share." He locked his eyes with the Desian, not flinching.

The man looked at him then smirked, "Heh heh. I will enjoy this. Grab him and hold him against the wall." He told the other men.

They grabbed him and forced him over to the wall, ripping his threadbare shirt off his back. His taut muscles rippled beneath his skin as he placed his hands on the wall. The thick scars stood out clearly. The years of labor had provided him with broad shoulders and nicely shaped biceps, where as it had stolen from the other prisoners.

Lloyd turned his head and stared at the young girl who was now standing with the others. Her eyes were wide and tears streaked from them as she, along with the other prisoners were forced to watch. Lloyd only realized that the first blow had fallen as he saw the girl cringe and look away. He acted as though it hurt, though he didn't cry out. He thought he felt the trickle of blood crawling down his skin, but he couldn't be sure.

Over and over he felt the whip press against him and each time he hissed, or grimaced. Finally, he heard the soldier's breathing grow haggard and he dropped the whip. "Take it away, and dress the wounds. Don't want infection to spread." Lloyd allowed himself to be lead away again. He locked eyes with the Desian as he passed who scowled at him. Lloyd smiled and looked at the girl who was crying silently. He gave her a wink before disappearing around the corner.

The two Desians led him down a corridor then through a door. It was a familiar place; he was often led into here to get bandaged up. He silently sat on the hard metal bed and sat motionless as the nurse washed his back and began wrapping gauze around his stomach and back. The other Desian, watching at the door spoke up, "It is the Oracle tomorrow. I bet those blasted Renegades are planning something."

The nurse shrugged as she tied the ends of the bandage together. "It is not our concern. You know what would happen if we enter the village with the treaty in place. Besides it is safe to assume someone will be guarding the Chosen."

Lloyd never lifted his head, though he listened intently. The Oracle. He had heard some of the older prisoners talking of the Oracle and the Journey of Regeneration and how the last one failed. He wanted to here more about it, but it was obvious that the discussion was over and the soldier grabbed his arm to take him out again.

After the Desian had placed him back into his cell and left again. Lloyd leaned against the wall. "So the Oracle is appearing tomorrow. Heh, I sure wish I could see it." Lloyd let himself slide down the cool wall, already forgetting about his slashed up back. He slowly removed the dirty piece of cloth covering the exsphere. The small sapphire gem glowed brightly in the low light. Lloyd constantly marveled at the smoothness of the stone, how polished it always looked.

He sighed. He didn't know why, but it always comforted him to look at the stone, as if held some link to who he really was. He had lost count of how many times he had tried to imagine up his parents, but every time they seemed wrong. He looked at the stone again and he saw his reflection. Shaggy, chocolate brown hair that hung all over the place with large red-brown eyes met his gaze. He had long abandoned fixing up his hair as it grew longer, so he allowed it to fall where ever he wanted. He didn't mind, in fact he thought it made him slightly more intimidating.

He gently rewound the rag around his hand. Standing, he walked over to his thin blanket, which was his bed and reaching underneath it. Withdrawing the two wooden swords, he straightened. "Another practice to while away the hours."

Lloyd took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he got into a fighting stance.

--

The sun seemed much hotter today. He could see the heat waves rising from the ground, though he couldn't feel it, he knew the other prisoners could. It wasn't fair for them, but there was nothing he could do. Lloyd practically slowed to a walk as the person in front of him slowed down considerably. He didn't lift his head, but he called forth. "I know you are tired, but please try to go for a little longer. Our break will come soon."

He looked up briefly and caught the nod from the guy in front and saw him speed up slightly. Lloyd smiled. A movement to his left caught his attention. He didn't abruptly turn his head, but shifted it slightly as not to attract attention. He was shocked to see an old woman standing near the fence talking to someone beyond. He caught a glimpse of silver and blue, but then it quickly ducked away as two soldiers called at the woman.

Lloyd swore under his breath but didn't stop pushing. He kept an eye of the woman and frowned as the soldiers led her away. Suddenly one reappeared. "Stop! We are going to have a little demonstration on respect." He turned and smirked at Lloyd, "And this time, there will be no interferences." Lloyd realized that this was the same solider who had whipped him yesterday. He didn't reply, but followed the other prisoners as they formed a half circle around the old woman and the Desians.

Lloyd scowled. 'Bastards.'

He fought the urge to run forward as the first whip fell on her back, stripping through her ragged clothes. The snap in the air caused him to cringe and clench his teeth as another came down upon her.

Lloyd couldn't take it anymore. Just as he stepped forward he felt a shift in the air and looked up just in time to see three balls of fire fly and strike the Desians whipping. 'What the hell was that?' He turned and looked up at the gate and saw a flash of blue vanishing off the cliffs.

The Desians saw it to and the one yelled angrily, "Quick, open the gate!" the three dashed off towards the gate, hoping to catch the person. Lloyd watched as the heavy iron gates swung open and the Desians ran out. He didn't wait. He tore off across the ground and ran through the open gates. He skidded to a stop as he saw the Desians turn around from a bush they were approaching and yell at him. "Hey! What are you doing? Get back inside!"

Were they serious? Did they actually expect him to turn around and go back in? Lloyd nearly laughed out loud. They started advancing on him. He crouched and scanned the area. They blocked the trail, but he noticed a large cliff to his right. He didn't hesitate and ran directly for the cliff and jumped. He hadn't realized how high it was and found himself falling quite a ways. He landed, stumbling some as his body jarred from the fall. He quickly picked himself up and hurried through the trees, before tumbling down another cliff. This time he felt strange as if he had fallen like this before. Turning and twisting as his hands clawed at the rocks of the cliff then he hit the ground.

Lloyd groaned slightly, blinking a few times to clear his swimming vision and he found himself staring at a silver-haired boy in blue clothes. "Hey, are you alright? You fell quite a ways." The boy crouched but stayed a ways back from him.

Lloyd opened his mouth to reply, but found himself grow faint. He heard the boy call again, "Hey, easy. What's your name?"

Lloyd struggled against the encompassing darkness, "Lloyd. My name is Lloyd. Then he passed out.

Okay… um… Please Review!!