Ooh, look, another chapter! It's longer than the first even! Yaay!

Anyway, this takes place when Stefan is about six years old and looks a little bit younger than he is.

Chapter 1: Spiteful Children

Long after the sun rose over Tsena village one day, the humble streets began to fill with the shouts and cries of the younger residents. Out of one home in particular crept the boy that was considered the leader of the youths of the small town. Mido stretched his arms lazily over his head as he wandered from his abode and waited for his usual crowd to find him. Mido's seventh birthday had passed three months past, and he was proud to be the oldest of his circle of friends. He had dark red hair, bordering on being brown with streaks of lighter red running through it. His skin was tanned from the many hours he spent outside everyday and his small arms held more muscle than others his age.

As the group came together, Mido paused to think for a moment about what today's activities would comprise of. First, they would wander the town to find someone new to ridicule as Mido had grown bored of his former target--a small, fat boy whose name was Yiggen Forosoe. Mido had come to call him Piggen Fatso. The children of the village had gone after poor Yiggen for more than a month straight, constantly calling him his nickname and tricking him into eating treats laced with a local plant known for its laxative properties. But even the fun of watching Forosoe scarf down the pastries hungrily before running home uncomfortably grew old for the children, though none of them dared to tell Mido.

Making fun of others never ceased to amuse the small boy; he thought he was pretty good at it too. He had made more children cry or wet themselves than any other in the whole village. Mido figured that was why the kids joined in with him so readily; no one wanted to be at the receiving end of Mido's insults. The adults could care less what Mido said to them--he was, after all, only a child.

Colin, Beth, Uli, Rusl, Telma, Shad, Auru, Fado... Mido ran a list through his head of possible replacements for Piggen, none of them seeming entertaining enough. A scowl on his face, Mido ran out to the nearby woods to think harder, as a nearby cat-fight was keeping him from thinking clearly. As the horde of boys reached their favorite clearing in the forest, Mido's mood brightened instantly when he saw a lone figure sitting on the special sitting rock, looking at the trees intently.

The first thing Mido noticed was the length of the boy's bright green hair. Mido stopped and motioned for the mass behind him to be silent as he thought out how he could hurt his next target. The green-haired boy had yet to notice them, and Mido wanted to take full advantage of the element of surprise. Seeing nothing strange or wrong with his target other than the length of his hair, Mido decided to go with the trans-gender approach. After giving a signal for the boys to wait where they were, Mido crept forward to the sitting stone where his victim sat unaware.

"Hey!" Mido shouted suddenly, causing the green-haired boy to tumble off the rock. "What's your name?" Mido asked, stepping up to his target who was pushing himself off the ground.

The boy paused and patted dust off the dirty rags tied around him before looking up at the much taller Mido, saying nothing.

"What's wrong with you, huh? Can't you talk? Or are you too stupid to know how?" Mido sneered, shoving the small boy to the ground again.

Still saying nothing, the green-haired boy stared up at Mido, not daring to stand up again. Mido was starting to get angry; his target was a mute! How could Mido make fun of him if the idiot didn't understand a word he said? Mido kicked dirt at the boy and began to walk away, motioning for his gang to follow.

"I-I'm not stupid." a small voice called out after the retreating backs of the boys, "I'm... Stefan."

A wicked grin spread across Mido's face; now, the fun would really begin!

"Well, Stefon, why's your hair so long, huh? Do you want to look like a girl?"

"I-I..." Stefan stuttered, not knowing what to say.

Mido thought to himself quickly. What would be a good nickname for this new meat? Stefan... how could that be a girl name? Stefin, Stephene, Stephina...No, no, none of these could work...Then, Mido realized the perfect name and quickly spread the love out throughout the entire population of village boys.

"You should change your name to Stephanie!" Mido shouted, relishing the laughter emanating from the boys behind him.

The gang leapt forward, circling Stefan quickly, chanting his new name over and over again, and shoving him around the ring roughly. Mido stood on top of the magical sitting stone and laughed over the noise of the chant. Right away, Mido could tell that Stephanie would provide weeks of entertainment. Chuckling merrily, Mido leapt inside the circle and in front of their victim, not slow to notice the dampness showing itself in the small boy's eyes.

"What's wrong, Stephanie? Ohh, is the baby going to cry? Why don't you go cry home to your mommy, huh?" Mido wiped his eyes, faking tears as he continued, "Waah! Waah! I'm Stephanie, I'm girl who has long hair like a girl has!"

The laughter surrounded Stefan, locking him into a seemingly endless round of torment. His lower lip quivered, and a single tear fell from his eye. Mido was satisfied. With a final laugh, he waved for the other boys to follow him out of the clearing; not before shoving Stefan to the ground one last time. They left the small shivering boy to cry silently as they drowned out the sound with their own laughter.

After that, the day went by as normal; the group chased the dogs around, skipped stones and play-fought with their stick-swords. Mido strode home a happy boy, whistling as he stepped inside the door. It was dinner time, and the sweet aromas of the coming meal reached Mido's nose and his stomach growled hungrily.

Dinner was set out and the family began to eat, with the children taking their turn to tell the others about their day. Mido, being the youngest of the four children, went last, deciding to start with the story about Stephanie.

"Yeah, we found this weird kid in the hideout today," Mido began, eager to tell his story, "his name was Stefan, and he had really long hair, like a girl!"

It took the small boy a moment to realize that the entire table had fallen still.

"Did you say... Stefan?" Mido's mother asked slowly.

"Well, yeah." Mido answered, a little nervous, "At least, that's what he said his name was..."

"You stay away from that boy." Mido's father said gruffly, "He's... not normal."

"What's wrong with him?" Mido asked, forgetting about being nervous and becoming intrigued instead with the possibility of new ways to ridicule Stefanie.

"He's got filthy beast blood in him." his father said flatly.

"If you go near him, the goddess will punish us for his sin." Mido's mother whispered, collecting the dinner dishes and leaving the table.

After the kitchen was cleaned and everything was put away, the family began to wind down before the day ended. As the children lay down in their beds and settled down for a relaxing night of sleep, Mido's mother sat down on her youngest child's bed.

"Please, Mido," she whispered, tucking the blankets around her boy, "leave that boy alone."

Mido nodded in understanding and curled up under his blanket as his mother blew out the only lanterns lighting the boy's room. Of course Mido had no intention of leaving Stephanie alone—no, he had decided that the small, green-haired boy would give an even better time than Mido had anticipated. Thinking fondly of the coming day, Mido soon fell into the soft embrace of sleep.


Stefan ran home soon after the boys had left. He was met with Sorcha's worried arms that petted his hair softly and listened as her son told of how he had been bullied earlier that hour. When he was done, Sorcha sat him down in front of the large box that served as a table and pulled a stale loaf of bread from the dusty cabinets nearby. As she cut both of them a piece, she did her best to comfort her son.

"It's not your fault." she said in a calm tone, bringing the hard slices of bread to the table and handing one to Stefan. "I don't know whose fault it is, sweetheart, but it isn't yours."

The two ate in silence for a few minutes.

"Next time one of those boys decides to call you a name, just remember that everything they say isn't true. Next time they want to call you stupid, laugh at their stupidity. They don't understand a word of what they say. All of them are short-minded fools who wouldn't know compassion if it slapped them in the face with a dead fish."

Stefan snickered quietly as his mother stood up and swung her arms wildly, pretending she was whacking one of the 'short-minded fools' with a fish. Laughing, Sorcha lifted Stefan up, swinging him into a soft hug.

"Now," she said, still spinning in light circles around the small room, "whenever someone says something that is meant to hurt, you just imagine them getting slapped with a fish, and laugh at them. Soon, they'll find out that no matter what they say, they can't hurt you and they'll stop. Do you understand?"

"I understand!" Stefan shouted happily, flailing his legs in the air as his mother spun.

"Good. Now, I have to stop spinning before I fall down!" Sorcha said, gradually slowing her twirl and setting Stefan down on the ground.

The two stumbled around the house, still laughing as they tried to keep their balance. The rest of the day seemed to fly by, and soon Stefan was lying on the small mat spread on the floor of the pitch-black room that what had been Stefan's nursery. Sorcha took the thin blanket and gently spread it over her son who wiggled excitedly under the sheet. As his mother lay down next to Stefan, he scooted up next to her and kissed her cheek softly. Sorcha smiled and patted Stefan's head.

"G'night, hun." she whispered.

"'Night, mommy!" Stefan said happily, only moments before he fell asleep.


Oh, how I love the end of this chapter... Hope you liked it too!