MOC: I must warn you, this story does not contain your typical dosage of stupid MOC humour. It's my first attempt at a (relatively) serious fanfic. So don't cry about the lack of jokes!

I'm going to hate it. Everyone will laugh at me. I know it.

"Come on, Lloyd. You can't be late for your first day!"

It was a new day on the village of Iselia. The new school year had just begun, and everyone was coming back from a long break.

Lloyd Irving was a new pupil. At this time, he was only about ten, so he was worried everyone would think he was dumb (which, in truth, he probably was – Dirk had taught him the basics, but nothing like what was taught in Iselia).

This was his first day. It had taken Dirk about 20 minutes to hoist Lloyd out of bed (he had overslept…again) before practically ramming his breakfast down his throat. Then it was time to get dressed and quite literally run through the forest to Iselia.

At the door to the school, Lloyd again froze.

"Dad, people are going to think I'm stupid."

Dirk looked Lloyd straight in the eye (which wasn't hard – they were about the same height, Dirk being a dwarf and all) and saw a tear forming.

"Now, Lloyd, you are going to be a little behind. But that's not what matters. It's not going to stop you going in and learning, is it?"

Lloyd blinked and wiped the tear from his eye.

"Thanks, Dad. Maybe someone in here will like me…"

"I assume you're Lloyd Irving?"

Dirk and Lloyd were quickly met by a young woman, presumably the teacher. Her short grey hair made her appear 20 years older than she was.

Lloyd had been expecting an old hag for a teacher (his exact quote was "one that eats little kids like me for breakfast"), but he wasn't sure if this was much better.

"I'm Professor Sage. Don't worry; your son is in good hands."

"Aye, about that…can I talk to you for a minute?"

Dirk turned to Lloyd.

"Lloyd, go play with some of the children in there, okay?"

Lloyd looked into the classroom. No-one in there seemed that bad…

"Okay, dad."

Lloyd slowly walked inside, leaving the Professor and Dirk alone.

"You see…Lloyd isn't my son. He doesn't know that, though – I was planning on telling him soon."

"I'd guessed that. You're a dwarf, aren't you?" asked the Professor, certain she was right.

"Aye, you're right there. Just…don't talk about me too much, okay?"

The Professor smiled.

"Don't worry. Lloyd will never know."

Everyone's staring at me…

Lloyd felt like he was a prize exhibit at a zoo. Everyone was looking at him, obviously deliberately.

Lloyd closed his eyes. He knew they were going to laugh at him…

"Hello."

Realizing he wasn't getting laughed at after all, Lloyd opened his eyes.

He saw nothing.

"Wait…who said that?"

Silence from the class.

"…I'm down here."

Startled by the seemingly disembodied voice, Lloyd looked down upon a little boy, not over five or six. Like the Professor, his hair was grey, but it was spiked up all over the place.

"My name's Genis. What's yours?"

Genis put his hand out for Lloyd to shake. For an instant, Lloyd seemed to ignore it, thinking it to be a joke.

It can't be that easy. No initiations, no conversations…

Then he realized he really had nothing to lose.

"I'm…Lloyd."

He reached out and shook Genis' hand.

Instantly Genis' face lit up.

"Okay! We're friends now, you got it?"

Lloyd smiled. Maybe it was that easy.

"Alright!"

"That's enough, boys. Settle down."

The Professor entered the room. Genis ran off to a nearby seat.

"Now, class. This year, we have a new student. Everyone, this is Lloyd."

Again the eyes of the class were upon him. It didn't feel so bad this time, because he at least knew someone in the crowd.

"Lloyd, we'll need to find you a seat."

The Professor, looked out at the class.

"How about…next to Genis? You've met him."

Lloyd smiled. That was fine by him.

Genis was smiling too.

"Hi. So, what are we doing today?" Lloyd asked.

Genis pulled out a giant textbook. Lloyd was surprised he could even lift it.

"I'm doing simultaneous equations."

Lloyd's jaw hit the floor. He didn't even know what an equation was, let alone a simultaneous one.

"Um…is everyone doing that?"

Genis smirked.

"Don't worry. Raine set it out for me."

"Raine? Who's that?" inquired Lloyd, confused.

"Oh, wait…she's Professor Sage to you."

Lloyd was in shock.

"You're related to the Professor?"

Genis' grin was cheek-to-cheek now.

"Worse than that – she's my sister."

Lloyd struggled to keep up with the class. He found himself on the wrong end of more than his share of punishments from the Professor. Genis had given him some tutoring to help, but Lloyd wasn't really paying attention.

He was busy looking at a girl a few desks away.

Her long blonde hair went down to her waist, fitting perfectly with her blue eyes. She looked so innocent and beautiful, like something out of his most beautiful dream.

"Lloyd, are you even listening to me?"

Lloyd quickly turned back to Genis.

"Sorry, I was spaced out."

Genis gave a knowing grin.

"I know…you're staring at Colette, aren't you?"

Lloyd instantly went rigid.

"W-w-what are you talking about?"

"Come on, I can tell. It's okay – everyone has a crush once in their life."

That wasn't a smart thing to say.

"What do you mean 'a crush'?"

Lloyd knew exactly what a crush was, but surely it couldn't be happening to a person when they've only just met.

But then again, there's love at first sight…

"He can't get his eyes off you, you know," Genis was talking to Colette while Lloyd wasn't looking. "It's obvious he's got a crush on you."

Colette was surprised.

"What…me?"

Genis nodded.

"He said to me once that you looked like an angel."

Colette paused for a moment, then smiled.

An angel…does he know that I'm the Chosen?

"Maybe you should go talk to him, Colette."

Colette nodded.

"Yeah, I haven't spoken to him yet, have I?"

The bell rang for the end of class.

Genis sighed.

"Oh, well. It'll have to wait 'til tomorrow."

Colette looked confused.

"Why?"

"Because Lloyd lives on the other side of Iselia Forest. And there's lots of monsters there – Raine won't let me go."

Colette was silent for a moment.

"…Okay. See you tomorrow."

It was night at Dirk's house. Lloyd was ready to go to bed.

Wow, school wasn't that bad after all. Genis was really nice, and Colette-

Then he realized he had yet to talk to Colette.

Aw, man. Guess I'll do it tomorrow-

"Lloyd!" called a voice from outside.

Lloyd looked out his window to see Colette running from a wolf.

"Oh my – Wait, Colette! I'll save you!"

Lloyd jumped out his window, wooden blades in hand. He started to hit the wolf on the head, but it wasn't doing much. The wolf quickly turned on him, chasing Lloyd instead of Colette.

Lloyd could only run so far. Eventually, he was too tired to go on, even though he knew the wolf was still behind.

This is it. I'm dead.

Lloyd fell to the ground, ready to accept his death.

"Fire Ball!"

Lloyd saw bright lights flash from the distance, striking the wolf in the back.

It gave out a horrble moan as it fell to the ground.

For a moment, Lloyd didn't move. Maybe he was hallucinating, maybe he was already dead, maybe this was all some freaky dream.

The smell of burnt wolf flesh filled the air, confirming the reality of the event.

But...who saved me?

Lloyd quickly stood up, ready to thank his rescuer.

Unfortunately, he was having a lot of trouble seeing him…

"Lloyd, I'm down here."

Lloyd looked down to see Genis holding a strange toy.

"You didn't do that, did you?" Lloyd wasn't sure if he was jealous or impressed.

"Yeah. Raine taught me how to use a little magic myself."

Suddenly, Genis began to panic.

"Wait…where's Colette? Did something happen to her?"

"No, it's okay. She's at my house for some reason."

"I knew it! I knew she was going to go! It was only meant to be a joke…"

"What? What was a joke?"

Genis was crying.

"I said to Colette she'd have to go through the forest to see you. I didn't think she'd actually do it…"

Oh, boy.

"Lloyd! Where've you been? And who's the kid with you?"

Dirk was pretty mad – after all, dwarves needed their sleep.

"Your friend won't stop apologizing about the trouble. She's really getting on my nerves…"

Genis looked up at Dirk (he was one of the few people who could in Iselia).

"Don't worry. Colette's always been like that. Where is she, anyway?"

Dirk motioned at the stairs.

"Dad, could you look after Genis for a bit? I'll go talk to Colette."

Dirk nodded.

"Aye. I'll talk to him for a while."

Lloyd walked up the stairs.

"So, what do you know about physics?"

Dirk froze.

"What?"

"Y'know, laws of motion, gravity…"

Dirk's head began to spin.

What have I gotten myself into?

"Colette? Are you okay?"

She was lying on Lloyd's bed, her eyes red. It was obvious she had been crying.

"Lloyd, I'm sorry."

"Look, don't apologize. I'm sure you came here for a good reason."

Colette sat up.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that!"

She jumped out of bed – but fell over as she landed.

"Owwie…"

Lloyd was quickly at her side.

"Colette!"

She looked up at him.

"Hi. I'm Colette."

Silence.

"…That's it? That's what you came here for?"

Colette smiled.

"Yeah. I never got the chance to tell you before…"

For a moment, they stared at each other.

"…Ha…haha…hahaha!"

Lloyd couldn't stop laughing.

"That's so funny!"

Colette's face darkened.

"Oh…I'm sorry."

Lloyd abruptly stopped.

"No! There's nothing to be sorry about!"

"Oh…I'm sorry."

Lloyd sighed.

"Well, we'd better get you home."

"…and then the square of the hypotenuse of the triangle equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides."

Dirk didn't hear Genis' lesson on triangles. He was fast asleep.

"Come on, Genis. We're leaving."

Lloyd came down from the stairs, grabbing Genis on the way out.

"Colette! Where have you been?"

Frank welcomed his daughter with open arms.

"I'm sorry, Father. I had to say hello to Lloyd."

Frank smiled. He turned to Lloyd.

"I am sorry. Colette has a habit of being very desperate to be friends with everyone."

Lloyd began to blush.

"No, it's okay! I…like Colette. She's my friend…"

Colette was overjoyed.

But there was one thing she couldn't admit – that she had a crush on Lloyd.

He doesn't feel the same way…I know it.

But no-one would know that. One thing Colette was good at was putting on a smile.

"Genis!"

Genis froze.

"Uh-oh, it's Raine…"

Raine ran up and grabbed Genis from behind.

"What have you been doing! I was terrified you'd killed yourself in the forest or something!"

Lloyd swore he saw Genis go a strange tinge of purple as Raine grabbed him and walked away.

"Trust me, you're in for it tonight…"

Okay, this time for sure…

Lloyd got home well after his curfew. Dirk didn't notice, though – he was sound asleep from Genis' lecture.

Lloyd wouldn't have to worry about getting to sleep tonight – he was pretty tired out from all the running he'd been doing.

As he drifted off, one last thought ran through his mind.

Maybe school isn't so bad after all.

MOC: ...I need to go.

-MOC walks off stage. Vomiting sounds are heard in the distance-