And here we finally are, Chapter 1. You guys finally get to meet Seifer! Chapter 2 will be posted sometime in the next couple of days (it's already typed up, I just have to upload it).

Also, please note: the language spoken in nearly every kingdom in this story (including the Three Kingdoms - Twilight, Traverse, and Radiant Gardens) is called Common. The only foreign language is Atlantian (spoken in Atlantia, of course), which is taught in schools. If you have any questions about this chapter, or the story in general, please feel free to share them in a review or PM me. I promise I will answer!

*Edit* - I forgot to mention, for updates on this story, and to check out what else I'm working on, check my profile!

Finally, for the disclaimer, please see the Prologue.

Chapter 1: "Hypocrites"

Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes

Like they have any right at all to criticize,

Hypocrites. You're all here for the very same reason

Morning-Afternoon, Monday, September 1st; Twilight Academy (Sunset Terrace)

Seifer was not pleased. He stared up at the inviting white stone of his new school and groaned quietly. Not quietly enough though, because Leon shot him an irritated glance out of the corner of his eye. Deciding to get things over with, Seifer moved forward, into the Academy and down the hall that led to the principal's office. Just as he reached the door, Leon grabbed his arm, halting him, and proceeded to murmur something in his ear before turning in his heel and exiting the school. Seifer rolled his eyes. Do try not to get expelled this time. 'Thanks a lot, Leon,' Seifer thought, before turning his attention back toward the office. After taking a deep breath and reminding himself to be polite, he opened the door and entered.

Thirty minutes later, Seifer gladly escaped the clutches of the obsequious principal, who assured him that Twilight Academy was "the pinnacle of education, with the most outstanding educators to be found in all the kingdoms and a zero tolerance policy for bullying," - the last said before a decidedly uncomfortable pause, during which the principal refused to meet Seifer's eyes. Seifer's face remained impassive throughout the entirety of the principal's speech, although inside, he was seething. It seemed rumors of his exploits at his old school, Olympus Prep, had reached even this far, and had been most assuredly skewed in the retelling.

After leaving the office, Seifer was escorted by one of the Academy guards to his first period class, Atlantian IV (having missed all of Homeroom and the first fifteen minutes of class while ensconced with the principal). He knew his late arrival would only fuel the inevitable gossip and was not looking forward to it. Hard enough to make friends when you're the new kid at a prestigious school - harder still when everyone is afraid you'll beat the ever loving shit out of them with the least provocation. Hopefully someone would be brave enough to befriend him, despite the insidious rumors, or he would have a lonely senior year to look forward to.

Seifer quickly realized that things weren't looking good for him, friend wise. Students were either ignoring him completely in indifference or scurrying away from him in fear. He had little hope of anything different occurring in his fourth period class, History IV. In an effort to convince himself that he didn't care (and that he wasn't missing his old friends, Fuu and Rai, most terribly), he began to project "don't mess with me" vibes and swaggered into third period as if he had not a care in the world. So it was quite a surprise to him when the flamboyantly red haired kid sitting next to him leaned over and said, "Hey man, I'm Axel."

Noticing that the teacher continued to drone on and was completely ignoring the buzz of conversation going on in his classroom, Seifer proceeded to talk to Axel throughout the hour, and, to his surprise, seemed to have made his first friend.

It turned out he had his next class, Biology II, with Axel as well. Axel immediately introduced him to an energetic blond kid named Demyx and was invited to join the two of them for lunch, which luckily they also shared.

Axel, Seifer discovered during lunch, was braver than his nonchalant attitude suggested. Immediately after the three of them sat at a table with their lunches, Axel began grilling Seifer on the rumors swirling throughout the school. Seifer quickly reassured him that, no, he had not killed anybody, which seemed to disappoint the red head. Demyx leaned in and asked, "Well, then, what did you do?"

Seifer rolled his eyes. He considered refusing to talk about it, but he figured that would do his reputation more harm than good. "Me and two friends formed a group called the Disciplinary Committee. There was a lot of bullying at my old school and we prevented it. Unfortunately, that meant we pissed off the main group of bullies, who then began coming after us. There was a huge fight between my group and theirs in the middle of the school courtyard. We were all caught, of course. Since I was one of the ringleaders, I got expelled."

Demyx was wide eyed by the end of Seifer's story, but Axel was frowning.

"That's stupid. Why would the school expel you if you were helping the other kids?"

Seifer grunted and picked at his food before replying, "Because the other kids were too scared to speak up in my defense."

"But-"

"Look, you guys seem cool and everything but I'd really rather not talk about it anymore."

Axel was still frowning, and look as if he were going to press the issue, but Demyx, seeing the look on Seifer's face, quickly distracted him.

"Hey Ax, I've been hearing some rumors about your sister..."

Axel huffed, "Crap, what's Kairi done now?"

Seifer sighed and tuned them out, completely uninterested in their discussion. As he glanced around the room in boredom, he observed the other students, hoping for something to catch his interest. There, at a table, a boy with blue hair had his nose buried in a book, completely ignoring the brown haired boy talking to him energetically, while an older boy with silver hair watched him fondly. Over there, near the lunch line, a group of girls were giggling together and typing rapidly on their phones.

And over there, by the door, a girl with short brown hair was throwing herself at a scrawny blonde boy who had just entered. The boy immediately began to struggle, quickly releasing himself from the girl's grip. She then proceeded to grab his hand and attempt to drag him to a nearby table full of people, but he said something to her, while shaking his head, that made her release his arm. He quickly turned away and, with a pronounced limp, headed up to the food line. As he passed near Seifer's table, Seifer noticed the kid was also sporting a black eye and split lip.

'Huh,' Seifer thought, 'so there's bullying at this school too, despite the principal's claims otherwise.' Seifer casually cracked his knuckles and hid a grin. 'Looks like this place just got a lot more interesting.'