A/N: Sorry that this chapter took a little bit longer to get up… My part-time summer job suddenly turned into an overtime mess. Plus, I had some Eliwood writer's block, and I hate the second half of the first scene. Anyways, replies to reviews are at the end of the chapter, to keep this a little less clustered.

Also, due to the sheer number of FE characters, some of them are going to be a little ignored. I have a rough idea of who I want to focus on (the lords, plus the Pegasus girls), but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and taken into account.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem. If I did, the FE 8 supports would be better.

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It was almost- almost- funny. Eliwood had returned from summer relaxed and calm about colleges, SATs, and admissions essays. The deadlines for his top choices would all come up in December, and he had the bare basics filled out- name, age, address, and the like. Essays and his GPA were all that had been left empty. They would be filled out in a few months, when he had his senior year to base his experiences on.

But now it was the final class of the day, and he was ready to rip his hair out. It seemed that almost every other senior was concerned with scholarships and test scores. Casual acquaintances and close friends alike would sit down, ask how his summer went, and then ask what he'd made on his SATs.

His answers rarely made them happy. Fifteen-twenty on the SAT, and a six-seventy and six-forty on his SAT IIs.

"You make me sick," Matthew groaned as he, Hector, and Eliwood sat down for criminal justice. It was a essentially useless class, but they'd all needed that class for individual reasons. Eliwood needed to keep up his GPA, Matthew needed to raise his with an easy class, and Hector needed the credit hour. "How the hell are the rest of us supposed to get into college when you make any of our scores look like shit?"

Hector laughed loudly. "You're don't even want to go to college," the broad-shouldered senior reminded him. "Would you honestly care if you didn't get in?"

"Being written out of the grandparent's will is something of an inspiration, when you think of it," Matthew replied with a good-natured shrug. "They pay for college, I show up for it and don't have to get a job, and get paid whenever they kick the bucket."

"That's an awful way to look at it," Eliwood remarked, frowning and drumming his fingers on the edge of his desk. Matthew treated most things with sarcasm, but Eliwood was always a little afraid that Matthew was just a bit too serious about what he said.

Matthew shrugged again, frowning. "You could make any joke seem morbid, Eliwood," the sandy-haired youth muttered.

"Oh, both of you need to relax," Hector interjected, shaking his head. "There are more important things in life than Matthew's grandparents and their will. Like seeing my new car."

"You mean Uther broke down and got you something other than that shoddy old Camero?" Matthew asked, rolling his eyes. "You poor, abused child. It must be awful to have an older brother who buys you anything you could ever want."

Eliwood chuckled, while Hector gave Matthew a light punch in the arm. "That from the boy whose grandparents are paying for his entire college tuition," the redheaded boy replied. "I've got to earn what I don't get in scholarships."

That made the two other boys roll their eyes and laugh. "Oh, 'whatever I don't get in scholarships'," Hector said mockingly. "Puh-lease."

"I could say the same thing to you," Matthew replied. "Mister football. Wonder what college you'll end up going to? One with a good football program who's desperate for you to play."

"We're all covered, then," Eliwood concluded, hoping to change the topic to something- anything- else. He was getting sick and tired of even thinking about college. Everything had been so planned. Completely figured out. And now just talking about it was making him nervous… "Come on, Hector, tell Matthew about the new love of your life."

Hector immediately sat up a little straighter in his seat, his grin widening. "It's a sixty-four Corvette," he began dreamily, and Matthew gave a low whistle. "Red. Black leather interior, fully restored. Decent sound system." Hector gave a shrug. "Uther was never very good in that department."

Eliwood smiled and shook his head. His own vehicle was a black F-150 Sport, which his father had bought him when he turned sixteen. Elbert had always told him that keeping up his grades and being on the golf team was enough of a "job" without having to work part-time, too. So he had tried to keep the truck from being a distraction, tried to study just as much as he had before he had his own transportation. And, all in all, it had gone rather well.

Mister Marcus was clearing his throat loudly, trying to get the class's attention, when a loud rapping at the door interrupted everyone's thoughts. Before Marcus could even open the door, a familiar slender man with long, pale purple hair entered the room, a Border Collie following him closely behind.

Marcus opened and closed his mouth several times. "Hello, Legault," he finally said. "Come in to bring in your next victim?"

"I'm afraid that I am," Legault replied, scratching his drug dog on its head. "Would you mind if I pulled one of your students out of class? Probably not to return."

"Ooh, who's he getting this time?" Hector asked, leaning forward as if excited with the whole prospect. "Hope it's that Jaffar kid- he gives me the creeps."

Eliwood frowned, while Matthew chuckled loudly. "He's not in this class, Hector. Think about it- you really think he's coming for a kid who's probably in remedial math?"

"Hey, I took remedial math!" Hector replied, giving Matthew a quick punch when the slender senior began to chortle loudly. "And there was nothing wrong with me, thank you very much. Miss Sonia was just too hot for me to try and listen to her and check her out at the same time."

Meanwhile, Legault was striding across the classroom, his Border Collie trailing him. "Paul Hinman, would you mind stepping outside with me for a moment? Bring all of your things. And Jasmine, I know that's his backpack, so please let him bring it out, unless you'd like to be punished for being in possession of it, as well," he added.

Matthew gave a low whistle and shook his head. "Reason number one why not to bring anything to school," he muttered under his breath. "That guy must have done the same thing when he was in school- otherwise he wouldn't be able to catch everyone at everything. Remember when he busted that one girl for bringing painkillers? What was her name?"

"Rebecca," Eliwood interjected. "She was a freshman. Didn't get suspended."

"Whatever. I just wonder who they're going to get for a defensive lineman if Paul gets sacked," Hector said. "Nobody on the JV is good enough to come up to the Varsity."

The redhead laughed and rolled his eyes. "Your brain works in astonishing ways, Hector. Is football all that's in there?"

"And girls," Matthew replied, only grinning when Hector gave him another quick punch in his arm.

"That offends me." Hector shook his head sadly. "It's hot girls, Matthew. Football and hot girls. Don't get it confused with anything else."

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Part-time jobs were, unfortunately, a necessary evil for Kent Foster. Every day after school, he prayed that his old, beat-up, but impeccably clean Chevorlet truck would start and make it to the Whataburger, just down the street from the high school. Every day up until the start of November, rain or shine, he rolled the windows all the way down, for lack of an air conditioner.

But at least he had a truck that was, for the most part, reliable. When he'd turned sixteen his sophomore year, Kent had been forced to walk- rain or shine- to his job. Sometimes Sain or Lyn would take pity on him and give him a ride there, but Kent tired of imposing on his best friends. It just wasn't polite.

It had been embarrassing at first, having to serve the kids from his school. Because it was so close to the high school, kids tended to drop by the Whataburger for an after-school snack, while Kent was working the window.

At least it was a job. Forty hours a week: four after school each day, and ten on both Saturday and Sunday. Minimum wage with almost no hope of a raise wasn't the best pay schedule, either, but it was better than nothing. He was almost seventeen when he'd purchased a vehicle that started ninety-five percent of the time; maybe even as much as ninety-eight percent. And now, with extra hours during the summer time, he had over fifteen thousand dollars saved for college.

Two years later, any embarrassment had passed. Sain thought that it was great that his best friend worked at Whataburger, because he could get extra ketchup at the drive-thru. Lyn often stopped by on weekends and afternoons to sit at a table, sip a Dr. Pepper, and study, waiting for Kent to get his lunch break.

Which was where she was after the first year of Kent's senior year. He never could figure out how she could put up with sitting on a hard, cold bench and studying despite all of the talking going on around her. Besides, what was there to study after their first day back?

"I'm going to clean tables," Kent said to the shift manager, a silent man named Dorcas, when the initial surge of high school customers had ended. "And can I take my break after I finish with that?"

Dorcas nodded. "Sure."

At least the man didn't spend so many words telling him exactly when he had to be back. Kent grabbed up a wet rag and a tray, flashing a smile at Lyn as he started working on the tables farthest away from her. It had become a daily ritual, one that made Kent's day go just a little bit faster.

He could swipe down the tables without having to concentrate in the least, and would turn to smile at Lyn with every table that he finished. She had laid down her book and would smile in return, smile growing when he nearly ran into a girl with a pair of bright pink pigtails.

"Watch where you're going!" the girl cried, smoothing down the fabric of her miniskirt and eyeing Kent up and down. The boy shuffled his feet a little, hoping to escape the girl's attentive gaze. What the hell was she doing, anyways?

Quite suddenly, the girl's face shifted into a broad grin. "I'm Serra," she said, smiling broadly and holding out her hand.

That in itself presented a challenge. Kent had to throw his wet rag on one of his shoulders, shift the tray- which had quite a bit of trash on it now- to his left side, and extend his right hand. "Kent," he replied. Serra shake hands in the oddest way, though. Her touch was heavy, but she held his hand in an awkward, light kind of way. It was as if she was trying very, very hard to be dainty, and was failing badly.

"Do you work here every day?" Serra continued, not letting go of Kent's hand. "I'm afraid that I don't come in very much, but I think that I would have noticed you before…."

This was getting awkward. Kent glanced at Lyn, who gave him a small wave and a silent laugh. "Well, yes, every day. But I have to get back to work. It was a pleasure meeting you, Serra."

The pink-haired girl smiled and shrugged, turning and hurrying out of the Whataburger, while Kent turned back to wiping tables.

When he reached Lyn's table, she began laughing madly, throwing her head back with sides heaving. "Oh, sure, that was great," Kent muttered, giving her table a swipe and hurrying to empty the tray and return the wet rag behind the counter.

He couldn't completely suppress his smiles, though, as he went over to sit across the table from Lyn, a medium fry in his hand. "Want some?" he asked, turning the box to face Lyn.

"Oh, don't act so innocent," Lyn replied, still chuckling slightly. "I want to know what you did that makes girls suddenly adore you. And, once you tell me, I'll be forced to tell Sain, so that he can try to get a date."

Kent groaned, feeling a small bit of warmth rush to his cheeks. "She just started talking to me. Don't ask what I did to deserve something like that." He grabbed another fry and began chewing, again turning the box to Lyn and nodding.

The junior girl smiled and sighed. "Fine, if I must, then I suppose that I could take a few." Another daily ritual. She would always, always sigh and then concede, because she knew that Kent would offer multiple times. "You could start a new trend. Taking weird sophomore girls to prom."

"I already told you that I wasn't going, didn't I?" Kent asked. He'd had his entire "prom" situation since March of his junior year, when a senior girl, Leila, had asked him. He'd politely turned her down, and she'd instead asked Matthew, who had agreed.

Lyn frowned and shook her head. "No, you didn't. I thought that we were going as friends. "But that's fine, if you don't want to go."

This was far from a ritual. Lyn had put a fake half-smile, and was staring fixedly at the table. Kent frowned and began chewing on another fry. "If you want to go," he finally said, "I'll take you. Unless we have a huge fight at some time before I buy the tickets. But if we have one after I buy the tickets, you have to come anyways."

That brought a real half-smile, which Kent supposed was better than a fake one. "You don't have to take me," she protested. "If you don't want to go to prom, then you shouldn't go all noble on me and take me anyways."

"Just as long as you're happy riding in that," Kent added, nodding towards his Chevy. He was tempted to joke about getting a limo service to donate a car for them, but he didn't want to seem pathetic. He just couldn't afford all of the frills that came with prom.

Lyn shrugged. "I"ve ridden in 'that', as you call it, more times than I even want to remember," she replied with a smile. "Remember that one time?"

The senior laughed and nodded his head. 'That one time' was imprinted forever in his memory. He'd just gotten his truck, and Lyn had needed a ride home. It was raining, and she had turned down Kent's umbrella for the walk out. So the two of them had sprinted for his truck- only Kent had forgotten that he'd left his windows down to try and air out the musty, smoky interior of his truck.

He'd rolled up his window, but Lyn had been unable to roll hers up. "You were the one who talked me into rolling mine down, too," Kent chuckled. "My Biology notes were ruined."

"I'll raise you a half-done English paper," Lyn replied, and Kent sighed, rolling his eyes. "You know you can't beat the half-done English paper. Especially when it's for Professor Karel's class."

"Well, I'll see that with a truck that smelled like old water for a month," Kent countered with a grin. "No amount of Febreeze could get that stuff out."

Lyn pondered that for a while, then shook her head. "You win, this time. You never put the smelly truck seats into play before. I'll have to come up with something even better than that. Until then, I'm not speaking to you."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, Kent smiling and Lyn maintaining a look of false detachment. "I had to redo my hair before I could go anywhere."

"You don't care what your hair looks like."

Lyn shook her head. "Damn! You know me too well, Kent Foster. I have to come up with some big huge secret that I'll never tell you."

"No more free fries for you, then."

"Damn! My weakness has been discovered."

Lyn was half-pouting, and Kent began chuckling loudly. "You know I could never deny you half of my fries, Lyn."

The junior girl gave a melodramatic sigh. "Ah, Kent, ever the gentleman. Gives a girl half of his fries instead of buying her even a small order. How simply knightly of you."

"I only get a medium free," Kent reminded her. "And I'm certainly not knightly enough to break into the college funds for fry money, when you could buy your own if you wanted."

Lyn shook her head. "Nope. Now I have to save up money so that I can buy a dress for the prom that my not-so-knightly best friend is taking me to. And seat covers so that I don't smell like old rainwater when we get there."

"Of course- you can't be a lady while you smell like old rainwater, can you?" Kent teased.

Munching on a fry, Lyn attempted a half-glower. "Isn't your break over yet? Dorcas over there is giving me the creeps. He keeps on glaring at you- or me. You because you're late, or me because I'm making you late?"

"Both, I'd think," Kent replied. "But you're right- it is over. Thanks for stopping by, Lyndis Lorca."

"Any time, Kenneth Foster." Another ritual.

"My name isn't Kenneth."

"Sure it's not." Lyn half-wrinkled her nose as she laughed, as she did every day after their 'debate'. "Now get back to work, good sir."

Kent gave a sweeping bow. "As milady commands."

"My name isn't milady."

"Sure it's not."

Kent couldn't have told you when the verbal sparring ritual had begun. But he knew that he liked it, because it was the same, every day. Something that he could depend on. Fights had been resolved over those few sentences. It was comforting to know that all could be solved with a few easy words.

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A/N: Yes, Kent was a little OOC. But this is AU, remember. I can't imagine the characters growing up in exactly the same way as they did in the actual game, because of the differences in their surroundings.

MiniLippy: Thanks again for the review! I guess I should have but that Priscilla scene in there- Priscilla knows that she's seen Raven before, but isn't quite sure where. And she's far too polite to stare at him, anyways. Thank you for sticking with this fic and reviewing the second chapter- I really appreciate it.

Randomreview: Well, to be honest, I'm not really a Hector/Lyn fan… laughs To really be honest, it's up there with Eliwood/Ninian on my "I hate" list. But there will be some Rath/Lyn, and a Lyn triangle. I'll give you three guesses on who the other guy is, and the first two don't count. ;)

Black Lord 500: Thanks for the praise. Karel will be entering- he is, oddly enough, the sophomore English teacher. Thought it might be interesting to have him a role that he doesn't necessarily fit into.

DGG-XAM1: Wow- I really appreciate that you picked Florina out of the characters. I tried very hard to keep her IC, but also allow for the differences that were bound to occur, based on the changes in the era. Glad to know that you liked it.