Author's Note: I apologize in advance for spending so much time on the first week of school, but that's when Luke meets most of the characters, the plot is set up, etc. At least it will be an interesting week. I also apologize for my updating schedule. Not all of the updates will be this quick: I binge-write, so my chapters will be long but spaced out. If I don't update for a long time, it's because I am busy, not because I've quit. At least summer is close at hand. Anyway, I thank everyone who was kind enough to review, and I hope you enjoy the second chapter.

Disclaimer: I do own Tales of the Abyss. It sits patiently near my Playstation 2 waiting to be played. I do not, however, own any intellectual rights to the game. There, I said it.


There are few situations in this world that are as awkward as being a new student that's arrived to their first class fifteen minutes late. Five minutes is okay: you could always just say that you were receiving last-minute instructions from the principal, or messing with your locker. That's about when the stragglers showed up to class anyway, so you wouldn't attract too much attention. Ten minutes is better: then you could give the teacher the "I've never been here and I got really lost" spiel, and by then the teacher would be too far into the lesson to interrupt the class with the typical "let's ask the new kid a bunch of pointless questions that we'll forget the answers to tomorrow" interview. You might even get sympathy points, depending on how nice the teacher is. After fifteen minutes though, you've lost your chance. The teacher knows that the principal wouldn't keep you this late without sending a note, and you can't use the "lost my way" excuse unless you want to look like a complete idiot. No matter what you do, you end up looking like either a trouble-maker or a dunce. This then prompts the teacher to give you a painfully wide smile and say the horribly clichéd line, "Well, isn't it nice of you to join us, Mr. Fabre?"

Any students that missed the squealing of the class door now turned around to stare at Luke. "You're the new student, yes?" asked the small balding man at the front of the class.

No, I'm a regular student here. I just decided not to show up until a week after classes started. Luke swallowed the sarcastic comment before it could get him into worse trouble and muttered a "yeah."

The teacher took off his glasses and rubbed them against his dirty cardigan. "Well, Mr. Fabre, my name is Mr. Spinoza, and I'll be your teacher for Precalculus. Right now we're working on group worksheets, so if you'll kindly join Miss Tear over in the corner. She's also a new student here, so maybe you can help each other out while-

"Uh, Mr. Spinoza?" The class refocused its attention on a blond girl about eighteen. Or rather, the head of the blond girl of eighteen, since she was apparently too nervous to open the door any wider than her head could fit through.

"Miss Noelle, I'm in the middle of a class."

"Yes, I know, but it's Van. He says he needs to talk to you. Something urgent."

"Mr. Van? Oh, in that case-" Mr. Spinoza hastily shoved his glasses onto his nose and turned to his students. "Class, if you'll please excuse me, I have some important business to take care of. Just keep working in your groups until I get back. Lead the way, Noelle." With that, the math teacher shuffled after the student, letting the door squeak to a close.

While the class was distracted, Luke had taken the chance to sneak into his seat. Once the coast was clear, he turned to look at his new partner. She obviously hadn't heard Mr. Spinoza leave, as she was still staring intently at the worksheet, tuning out both Luke and the fact that she had a strand of her mousy brown hair in her mouth. Luke watched her chew on her hair for a minute, and then decided to give her a hint by faking a cough. The girl ripped herself from her trance and hastily composed herself.

Luke gave her a little wave. "Hey. My name's Luke. I just joined the class."

The girl grabbed his still waving hand and gave him a brief but military handshake. "Tear. Tear Grants."

"Your name's Tear? Like somebody's crying, that kind of 'Tear'?" Seriously, who would name their kid that?

The only movement Luke could see in Tear's stone-set face was a tiny shift in her gaze. "N-no. It's short for Mystearica."

"Mystearica…" he echoed. As in mysterious? Did she seriously think he was stupid enough to fall for that kind of joke? Whatever, he's play along. Luke put on a friendly grin. "Right. I'm guessing your Mom's the type of person who likes to stand out from the crowd." As opposed to her daughter, who looks like she'd be at home in the army. "Do you guys fight a lot?" He asked.

Her eyes snapped back to mirror his. If her face was stone before, it was granite now. "My mother's dead."

"What?! Oh, wow, I…I'm really sorry, I didn't know. Um…" Luke decided to change the subject as quickly as possible. "Well, at least you still have your dad to-"

"He's dead too."

Luke stared at his worksheet. Was there any topic that wasn't booby-trapped? He decided that his best shot was to pretend that the awkward silence wasn't there and just do his work. That plan worked for about five minutes, until Luke realized that he had no idea what the word "radians" meant. He'd have to try to start another, safer conversation. He fake-coughed again. "So…I hear you're a new student. Where'd you go before you came here?"

Pause. "I was a freshman at Qliphoth Academy. It closed down over the summer due to a lack of students, so I transferred here."

If Luke remembered correctly, Qliphoth Academy was a state-owned military school in downtown Aldrant. Most of the kids who went there couldn't afford to buy textbooks and supplies for public schools. Their parents shipped them off to boarding school to learn how to kill people, and in return the government provided education, room, and board. Everybody was happy. Except for the kids, of course. Which explained a lot about how his partner got to be so uptight. Geez, only a sophomore and she's already been in uniform. He blinked. "Wait…you're a sophomore?"

The poor girl nodded. "Qliphoth Academy had an accelerated curriculum in the math and sciences. I took advanced Algebra last year, so Precalculus would be the next logical step."

"You took advanced Algebra as a freshman? Man, even I haven't had that yet." Luke groaned. Oh great, I get the kid genius. I'm going to look like an idiot next to her.

"You didn't take Algebra last year? Really? What class did you take, Trigonometry or advanced Geometry?"

"Ummm…Math?" All of the awkwardness from the last ten minutes floated tauntingly in the air between the two students. Luke felt his eyes sink back to the worksheet in defeat. "This is going to be a long year, isn't it?"

"At least you've figured out that much."


Luke could not get into English class fast enough. As soon as he saw room 201, he practically leapt inside the room, only to crash into the unfortunate student inside. Luckily few students were in the room at the time, so there were a minimum number of witnesses of the two falling gracefully on their behinds.

The two garbled apologies at each other and frantically picked up their things. Luke managed to quickly get his textbooks under one arm, and then handed the girl a light pink daily planner. She muttered a 'thanks' as she reached for the book, and then her hand froze in mid-grab. Luke looked up to see the girl studying his face. At first Luke thought that he must have a zit on his forehead, but then the girl's astonished face thawed into a surprise-party smile.

"Asch?! Is it really you?" she asked incredulously. She stared at him as if she wasn't quite sure if he were real or simply a figment of her imagination. After a few seconds, she determined that he was, in fact, real, and began to barrage him with questions. "Where have you been? You left so suddenly, and you never wrote or called or anything. Why did you leave? What happened? How did you get back here? How long have you been in Aldrant? Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in so long! Are you staying? I-"

The girl was shooting him with so many questions that Luke began to lose track. They just kept pouring out of her, without any space in between for an answer, so that the girl's pale face was literally taking on a slightly bluish tinge from a lack of oxygen. For his sake as well as the girl's, Luke interrupted her. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

The girl's mouth snapped shut like a puppet's, and she gazed at him with the same look that a child has when its mother has said a dirty word. The color slowly escaped from her face, embarrassed for its owner. She had the air of an actor whose partner has just said the wrong line during a performance, and who had to lead him back to the script with a thinly veiled ad-lib. "Don't you recognize me? I know it's been a while, but I shouldn't look that different," she said. She waited for an answer, and then decided to lob him another hint. "It's me, Natalia."

Luke stared at the girl kneeling before him. She was unusually pretty, one of those girls who knew enough about make-up to make you forget that she was wearing any. She had short blond curls, a small rounded face, and a preppy shirt with matching skirt, purse, and shoes. But in spite of the girlish look she wore, she appeared to be slightly taller and older than Luke. These details made Luke absolutely sure that he had never seen her before in his life, because any girl that his mother had ever introduced to him had either been at least four years older than him, four years younger than him, or gifted with the personality and looks of a mannequin.

"Um, look. I think you have me confused with someone else. My name is Luke. Luke von Fabre."

She blinked. "Luke von Fabre?" she gasped. "I didn't know Asch had a twin!"

Luke paused. "We're not twins."

"Brothers?"

"No. Not brothers."

"Cousins?"

"Nope. I don't know anybody by that name."

Natalia looked away for a moment, deeply troubled. She looked back and asked apologetically, "Are you sure you're not cousins?"

"I think I'd know if I had a cousin named Asch."

Natalia stood up quickly and daintily brushed off her skirt in an effort to regain some composure. "Oh…I'm really sorry. You just look so much like him, I was sure that-" she trailed off in a melancholy daze. Luke pushed himself off of the ground, and then Natalia shook herself out of her reverie. She grabbed his hand and shook it enthusiastically. "Anyway, it is very nice to meet you, Luke. My name is Natalia Lanvaldear, and I'm student body president. If you have any questions about Kimlasca High, please don't hesitate to ask," she said hastily. With pleasantries exchanged, she then allowed herself to run towards her desk at the far end of the room, where she privately replayed the scene in her head in an effort to pinpoint where she went wrong.