Author's Note: This idea just kind of randomly came to me a couple nights ago in the middle of the night. I realized no one had ever done a fic centered on Fiyero's character before. So this is set during the Charmed Circle chapter of the book and will focus on his background. It may or may not turn out to be AU. I don't think it will be a novel, but who knows. If you've read the book and know what scene this is, feel free to skip the excerpt below as it is for the benefit of those who haven't. And yeah. I don't own these characters.

This fic is dedicated to Drew, because he listens to me whine all the time and comes up with a good 50% of the ideas that go into my fics and I think he deserves more credit than I give him. And of course because he's Fiyero.

Boq clutched Elphaba's hand tightly and whispered, "Look! A Winkie!"

And so it seemed, a student from the Vinkus, in strange ceremonial garb, coming late for class, opening the wrong door, confused and apologetic, but the door had shut behind him and locked from this side, and there were no nearby seats available in the front rows. So he dropped where he was and sat with his back against the door, hoping, no doubt, to look inconspicuous.

The antlers suddenly took a convulsive twist on the wall, and wrenched themselves out of the oaken paneling. They tumbled and clattered to the floor, to the shrieking and laughing of the students, especially because for a minute Doctor Nikidik didn't know what the uproar was about. He turned around in time to see the antlers right themselves and wait, quivering, twitching, on the dais, like a fighting cock all nastied up and ready to go into the ring.

The antlers stood on their points and skittered, crablike, across the stage. As the students rose in a common scream, the antlers scrabbled up the body of the Vinkus boy and pinned him against the locked door. One wing of the rack caught him by the neck, shackling him in its V yoke and the other reared back in the air to stab him in the face.

Doctor Nikidik tried to move fast, and fell to his arthritic knees, but before he could right himself two boys were up on the stage, out of the front row, grabbing the antlers and wrestling them to the ground. "That's Crope and Tibbett!" said Boq, jouncing Elphaba in the shoulder, "Look!" At last they succeeded in breaking off one driving tine, then another, and the pieces, still twitching, fell to the stage floor without further momentum.

"Oh the poor guy," said Boq, for the Vinkus student had slumped down and was volubly weeping behind his blue-diamonded hands. "I never saw a student from the Vinkus before. What an awful welcome to Shiz."

--Wicked, pages 141-142

Chapter 1: Diamond Boy

Fiyero got up after a moment and walked rather unsteadily off the stage, hoping his two so-called saviors would leave him well enough alone. He sat on the floor with his back to the wall as there were no available seats nearby and the prospect of making his way to the back of the lecture hall with the entire student body staring at him was too horrifying to consider.

He ventured a glance back up at the stage where the two boys who had fought off the antler-beast were now prancing around with the pieces of it perched on their heads like garish hats, ignoring the professor's cries to stop. At any other time he might have found this hilariously funny, but after what had just happened he could only feel disgusted and slightly sick. Perhaps coming to Shiz wasn't such a good idea after all. It had been stupid of him to think things would be any different here. For a moment he toyed with the idea of sending a message back home to the Vinkus, asking for money for the return trip home, but that would be shameful and he knew his parents could not afford to lose any more of their reputation.

A fresh round of shouts broke out and Fiyero looked up to see the professor unlocking the same side door he had had the misfortune to stumble through. The old man opened the door at last and opened the door at last and pushed the two laughing boys out into the hall, antler hats and all. He returned to the podium attempted to regain order but failed dismally. He cleared his throat several times to no effect, then gave up on the remainder of the lecture and began assigning copious amounts of homework to be completed in two days. The laughter and rowdy conversation quickly metamorphosed into groans of protest. Fiyero made a futile grab for ink and paper but then gave up. He knew he wasn't going to do the work anyway. The professor finished speaking and students bolted up out of their seats, the chairs making cringe-worthy scraping noises against the wood floor. Fiyero got up as quickly as he could to avoid getting trampled and made his way out into the hall, feeling claustrophobic. He hugged his bag to his chest and stayed close to the wall, hoping the others would be too preoccupied with the unjust assignments to take much notice of him.

"Hey!" came a shout from behind him.

Fiyero refused to turn around, hoping he was mistaken and the owner of the voice was addressing someone else in the mass of students making their way to their respective dining halls for the evening meal.

"Hey, Diamond Boy!" came the obnoxious voice. Fiyero cringed and tried not to be sick with embarrassment. He quickened his step and bumped into the person in front of him, a delicate looking girl with long flaxen curls, who turned and gave him a disapproving look.

"Hey!" Fiyero jumped as someone put a hand on his shoulder from behind. He turned to see the grinning face of one of the boys who had defeated the magicked beast, still wearing his antler hat. His friend was a few feet away, looking less than pleased.

Fiyero narrowed his eyes cautiously at the two boys. They seemed friendly enough, but he had a feeling that making friends with these two on his first day would not do well to improve his already too low social status with his fellow students.

"What?" he asked, sounding more accusing than he'd meant to.

The boy smiled back, unfettered.

"Wicked awesome show with that antler beastie thing! Did you plan that?"

Fiyero frowned and coughed, clapping a hand over his mouth. If people thought…This was most definitely not a good sign. The other boy made his way over, somehow managing to grin at Fiyero while still scowling at his friend.

"You coming to dinner?" the boy asked Fiyero without so much as introducing himself. "A celebrity like you deservers a better meal than the dining hall has to offer."

Fiyero glanced back and forth between the two of them, unsure of who to answer first.

"No, I didn't plan it, no, I'm not coming to dinner," he blurted as fast as he could, then attempted to flee the rapidly emptying hallway before any more people could see him with these two buffoons or give him looks of pity. He bumped into several more students on his way out, managing to earn himself several more rude remarks, but at last he was out, out into the darkening twilight, out away from lecterns and the smell of books and musty old rooms.

He walked quickly across the grounds and back to Ozma Towers, trying his best to keep his focus on the grass and not look up at the huge buildings that loomed up all around him. They made him feel strangely claustrophobic, suffocated. He had never been to a large city before, and he wasn't enjoying his first experience. He felt strangely outclassed and taken advantage of in a way that was all new and yet all too familiar. He had hoped to find escape here, or at least he knew his parents had had the hope for him. But apparently it wasn't working out that way. Still, anything was better than home. Or at least he hoped so.

Fiyero made his way up the stairs of Ozma Towers, forgetting to skip over the squeaky one and managing to elicit a noise so loud he was sure the entire building heard. It was like a message meant for the ears of those in the know: Listen, there's a new boy and he has no idea what the hell he's doing here. Come and make fun of him like the rest of the world.

He managed to make it to the door of his room at last without further incident; he had been forced to stay in the solitary room at the top of the tower, the old, run-down room that most of the school said was haunted. But he had no roommate, for he had arrived so late in the year that the rest of the rooms were full. This at least was good, for he didn't think he could stand having a roommate on top of everything else.

The room was small, barely larger than a closet, and dark, but it had one large window on the north-facing wall, and if he looked out of it he could see nearly all of the grounds clear over to Crage Hall. And it wasn't like he even had enough possessions to fill the room. Nothing more than several days' worth of clothes, a portrait of his parents, and a few books. He had not unpacked yet and had no intention of doing so. He could live out of a suitcase for the duration of his stay at Shiz.

He lit a candle and looked around the room for a moment, contemplating attempting his homework. The thought of it made him want to break down and cry all over again. Fiyero gave up and pulled the mothy bedclothes down, intending to sleep off the nightmares of the day. Just as he was about to blow out his candle, something caught his eye outside the window.

He went over to the window and looked more closely, though it was hard to see in the purplish light. There was a figure, cloaked all in black, outside in the garden over at Crage Hall, though he couldn't make out who it was. Not that he knew enough people to recognize anyone. As he watched, the figure made its way over to another building and attempted to scale the wall and get a peek in the window, though it appeared that the walls had been enchanted as the rebellious student's hands slid off as though trying to grab ice.

Fiyero watched for a few moments longer, then shook his head and blew out the candle. There was plenty of time for him to find out the oddities of Shiz. And besides, he wasn't sure he wanted to.

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