A/N: So. It's been a very long time. After my nearly-finished story was almost entirely erased, I fear I temporarily lost some of my drive to work on it. However, I eventually summoned up the courage to endeavor to rewrite it, and now I have a good amount rewritten. I'll probably be posting about once a week. Also, I'm still not entirely used to the formatting on this site, so please forgive any jarring inconsistencies.

Hateful stares. Disgust. Eyes boring into him from every side. Genis didn't dare seek out his friends for fear that he would see the same emotions in their eyes as well. He would be abandoned again. Just as he had been by his parents, and just as he had been by his previous friends. Lloyd was a good person, but surely even he would feel betrayed and be disgusted that he had been friends with a half-elf - a half-elf just like the ones who had killed his mother.

Through the haze of his emotions and the odd ringing in his ears, he heard a voice. One he recognized. His head jerked up in confusion and he stared at Rai, from whom the sound had come. No. His brother couldn't possibly have said what Genis thought he'd said...In his shock, his ears cleared and suddenly he could hear every sound more sharply than he would have liked.

"How do we know you're not lying?" the mayor was snarling, staring at Rai with narrowed eyes. "You could just be lying to save your brother. Or you could both be half-elves, for all we know!"

Genis's heart felt like it was being squeezed in his chest. He wanted to speak, but his mouth was dry and he couldn't seem to make it - or anything else - move. No. What is he doing?

Rai faced the mayor calmly, his green eyes as cold as they had ever been. There was a hatred there that Genis had hardly ever seen his brother show. "You humans are so unbelievably dim-witted," Rai said with a voice like ice. "Do you want me to lay it out for you? I was adopted by Raine and Genis. They are not my true siblings by blood. Haven't you ever wondered why Genis is so much more magically gifted than I am? That's the true elven blood running in his veins. As a mere half-elf, I couldn't possibly be as strong."

Genis closed his eyes. He knew that wasn't true. The amount of elven blood running through your veins didn't necessarily correlate to the strength of your magic. But when he glanced back at the villagers, he could see that they now looked confused and were muttering amongst themselves. He felt an inkling of surprise. Were humans really this gullible?

No, that was besides the point. More importantly - he couldn't let Rai do this. Genis was the one who'd caused all this to happen, so there was no way he was going to let someone else take the blame. He opened his mouth to interject, only to find a hand covering his mouth and his sister's voice whispering in his ear. When had she made her way over to him?

"Genis, stop. If you admit that you're a half-elf, what Rai is doing now will be for nothing. We will all be exiled from the village. Do you understand?"

Genis felt ice run through his body once more. Raine was right. But that didn't make it feel any less wrong.

...

Rai surveyed the villagers gathered around the clearing, unfazed by their muttering and sideways glances. At least, he tried to be unfazed. He should be. After all, there was no reason for him to care what assumptions these ignorant bigots made about him on the basis of his race. They hated him mostly out of fear, and it was a logical and inevitable happening that the less capable should fear and hate their superiors. Half-elves were not only more intelligent on average than full-blooded humans but were also capable of using magic, something no human could hope to accomplish. That was simply the way nature had dealt things out.

He made sure to keep his posture relaxed and his eyes unreadable while he waited to see what the villagers' response would be. He noticed that the Chosen was absent from the crowd and wondered briefly where she was before remembering that she would be at the temple at this time, preparing for the Journey of Regeneration. Regeneration indeed.

The mayor was staring at through narrowed eyes as if struggling to come to a conclusion about what Rai had said. Rai met his gaze with a hint of disdain, then glanced at Genis, who looked more frozen than before, if that was even possible. His brother opened his mouth as if to say something - of course, Rai should have known Genis wouldn't like this - but before Rai had to do anything, Raine had silenced her brother. Just as expected. Of course there's no way she would let her real brother get into trouble, Rai thought bitterly. Raine had always cared for Genis more. It was to be expected, since they were related by blood.

The mayor finally began speaking again. "If this is true - " he said slowly. Rai cut in before he could continue.

"Of course it's true," he said haughtily. "Why in the world would I lie in such a self-destructive manner as this? Revealing myself to be a half-elf is hardly beneficial to me. Do I have any reason to lie? Please think a little before you speak." Of course, there is no reason why I would tell such a self-destructive truth either, he thought wryly, but these humans are too dull-witted to pick up on that.

As he had anticipated, his words served to further infuriate the mayor. "Silence, half-elf," the elderly man snapped, fingers jumping to his moustache. "I am the mayor of this village and I will not be spoken to in that way, especially by a half-breed. You've decieved us all and I can't allow someone so dangerous to stay. After all, for all we know, you could be working for the Desians - "

"And how do you figure that?"

Rai stiffened in surprise. This new interjection was something he hadn't counted on.

"L-Lloyd?" stammered the mayor in surprise as the tall swordsman stepped forward, his eyes firm. "What do you mean?"

"Why does Rai being a half-elf mean that he's working for the Desians? Actually, why does it matter at all that he's a half-elf? Genis and Raine are elves, so they're different from us too, but they're still allowed to stay in the village!"

Rai clenched his hands into fists. Why was Lloyd defending him? He's going to ruin everything with his stupidity, no matter how well-meaning.
The swordsman was already continuing further.

"In fact, to be perfectly honest, I already - "

No. That fool.

" - already knew that Rai was a half-elf."

Rai felt like smacking a hand to his forehead, refraining only because of the scores of eyes fixed on him.

There was a short silence. Then the mayor bellowed, "Lloyd Irving, you knew that there was a half-breed traitor living in our village and you deliberately hid this from us?"

Lloyd looked bewildered and defensive. "Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying? He isn't a traitor, and it shouldn't matter that he's a half-"

Rai had had enough. "That will do, Lloyd," he cut in smoothly, and the villagers' heads swung around neatly to face him instead. You're not spectators at a duel, he thought irritably, but managed to keep his face neutral. "I appreciate your efforts, but there is no need to overstrain yourself trying to reason with these people. There is also no need to lie. Thank you for trying to help me, but I know you had no idea about my race." He ignored Lloyd's stunned expression and turned to face the mayor, who looked even more flabbergasted than before. "I will leave this village," he said clearly as gasps broke out throughout the clearing, "since it is clear you were planning to exile me. Although I will point out that exiling a half-elf before knowing his allegiances is a truly idiotic move, since regardless of whether I was working with the Desians in the past or not, it is certainly a much more attractive option now. Good day." He turned to make his way back towards his house, praying that neither Lloyd nor Genis would say anything more. Of course that would have been much too good to be true.

"If you're exiling him, then I'm going too," Lloyd said firmly, at the same time as Genis started, "This isn't f- " before he was muffled again by Raine's hand. Rai froze mid-step, barely restraining himself from turning back around. Of all the idiotic...

"Very well," he heard the mayor say from behind him. "From this day, by the rights I hold as mayor, I exile Lloyd Irving and Rai Sage from this village. Be gone!" Rai's sensitive ears picked up his footsteps as he stormed away towards his house.

Slowly, the villagers started to disperse. After a few moments of utter silence during which Rai tried - and failed miserably - to calm his emotions, he whirled on Lloyd. "What the hell did you think you were doing?" he hissed. "If you wanted to gain some kind of favor with me, I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken - "

To Rai's chagrin, Lloyd actually interrupted him. "It's nothing like that," the other boy said with uncharacteristic seriousness. "I believe that everyone who is born has the same right to live without being treated differently. I don't want to live in a village where others are kicked out because of something they can't help."

Rai found that for once, he was actually speechless.

Genis finally spoke up as well, pushing Raine's hand away roughly. "Lloyd's right, he said firmly, locking his gaze with Rai's. "You shouldn't have done that, Rai. It was me who made a mistake, so it shouldn't have to be you who pays for it. I'm coming with you, after all I'm also -"

"That's enough," Rai said quickly before his brother could reveal his race. "There's no point in you leaving the village too. Understand? If you don't want this kind of thing to happen, don't make that sort of mistake in the first place." He softened a little when he saw the look in Genis's eyes. "It's not like I won't see you again." He turned to Lloyd and added grudgingly, "Is it all right if I stay at your place for a bit, considering the circumstances? I assure you I don't plan to be there forever, but..."

"Of course I don't mind," said Lloyd, and then added, "Oh, and Genis - meet me in the forest tomorrow morning just before sunrise. We have a lot to talk about."

Rai turned to Raine. "I have things to discuss with you as well. Would perhaps the same time be convenient, as well as the usual place?" He was impressed at the neutrality in his own voice.

"Yes, of course," she responded, her eyes showing uncharacteristic worry. "Rai, I -"

"No need," he cut in curtly. "I know you're grateful I saved your brother. Don't worry about it." He turned and stalked off before she could say anything else. He didn't want to hear it - the words that confirmed Genis was more important to her, that Rai was only an outsider with no relation to anybody.

Even though he'd accomplished the first step to something he'd been planning for years, Rai's heart felt like ice.

...

Genis could hardly believe the events of the past day. No - it was more that he didn't want to believe it. First capture, then...then Marble, then the odd behavior of the Desian, topped off with the horrible revelation and Rai's sacrifice. As the latter event came to mind, Genis felt a horrible twinge in his chest. It took him a moment to identify the feeling as guilt - guilt so heart-wrenching that for a few moments he was drowning in it, suffocating, so ashamed and angry that he could hardly breathe. He had dismissed his brother's opinion, even yelled at him, and caused Marble to die. And to make it worse - nothing had happened to Genis. No; Rai had suffered all the consequences, despite having been right...

The young half-elf realized that his face was wet and he wiped away the salty tears angrily with his sleeve. His brother - and Lloyd too, he thought guiltily - were both exiled, and he was sitting here crying? As if I'm not useless enough right now as it is, he thought furiously. What was wrong with him? What had happened to his usual sarcastic self, to his confidence in his abilities? He needed to get it together! And I owe Lloyd a major explanation, he thought suddenly, the guilt returning in full flood as he remembered his meeting with his best friend in only a few more hours.
Everything was his fault, so he should at least tell Lloyd everything.

And Rai. Even though his brother acted unfeeling, Genis knew he cared more than anyone, no matter how much he denied it even to himself. He thought back to the time when a human girl in the village had been obsessed with Rai, gushing about him to everyone that came near her; Rai had rejected her harshly, and the girl had cried for days. The children of the village had been abuzz with this confirmation of the Ice Prince's lack of consideration for others, and with righteous anger on the girl's behalf.

Only Genis had known what his brother might be thinking - after all, he was a half-elf also. Rai knew as well as Genis the horrible relations between elves and humans - a human girl should have known not to flirt with someone who was, to her, an elf. But when Genis had brought the subject up, Rai had insisted that he wasn't noble the way Genis made it sound, that he had only reacted that way because the girl was annoying him and below his standards. His brother had lied so convincingly that even Genis had almost believed him - until he caught the telltale twitching of his right earlobe, a sign that Rai was not telling the truth. It was a habit that was only obvious when Rai was with Genis for whatever reason; Genis doubted that Rai realized this himself, even now.

Coming back to the present, Genis felt furious with himself for calling Rai cold-hearted. He, of all people, should know better.

...

It was testament to the complexity of the situation that Raine Sage's mind was racing past her ability to control it.

And so she had done the only thing she could do, and that was to retreat from the situation to regroup. The only problem was, it didn't seem to be working quite as well as it usually did.

Somehow, it seemed that Raine's consciousness had separated into multiple distinct parts, one of which, staring blankly out over the small pond near her home, was aware of the stares of other villagers, but was completely disconnected from the rest, which were trapped inside her skull and were thus connected and yet not.

The first voice was urging, Genis is inside, he's your brother, go comfort him -

Even as the voice Raine liked to think of as her rational mind thought it probably it would be best to leave him alone now.

But still the first voice continued to nag, and even as it did a third was vying urgently to make itself heard - You need to think about what Rai did...think, Raine, what are his possible motivations, it seems so out of character -

To which her sentimentality started desperately but no, how can you think that way, he did it only to help you and Genis, how can you even suspect -

That voice she immediately quashed, though, as she so often did. And she looked back to the voice of rationality, and Raine couldn't help but be swayed by its argument that there is more to this than meets the eye, because logically Rai could have achieved this in a number of other, safer, less self-destructive ways...

Sentimentality immediately tried to respond that maybe Rai just hadn't thought of that, but Raine knew better than to listen to it and already Rationality was scoffing, of course Rai had thought of it...

Shut up, she thought firmly to the voices in her mind, and although they refused to subside, she would do her best to think through them. Then she closed her eyes.

The fact was that Rai had made a decision she would never have expected him to make, thus upsetting any reasonable expectations Raine had previously been prepared to react to. Although it was admittedly touching that he would be so self-sacrificing - the logical conclusion, her experience told her, was that he hadn't been self-sacrificing.

Or at least, not purely so. After all, why hadn't the meticulous, careful half-elf at least attempted to convince the villagers that the Desian was lying through more conventional means of persuasion - and for that matter, why had he then seemed so very eager to be exiled? He'd suggested the option himself, which Raine knew was completely out of character for him. Obviously, she argued, unsure of with whom she was arguing, obviously, there really is more to this than meets the eye.

On the other hand, what was done was done, and Rai had done both Raine and Genis a favor, regardless of possible ulterior motives...

She sighed. When Rai had stepped forward, she herself had felt a twinge, an urge to stop him. But as usual, she had been forced to silence Sentimentality when she realized that Rationality made much, much more sense, and so she had moved to keep her brother from the very intervention she herself had wanted to make. Because she could see that Rai had had a plan, probably a specific one. And whatever it was, intervention would only spoil both it and any chance that at least some of them would be able to escape the wrath of the village.

No matter how much Rationality and Raine agreed that Raine had made the right decision, however, Sentimentality would pop up at intervals and whine why couldn't you save him, why didn't you react first before your little brother had to step in, did you really need to reinforce his stupid idea that you don't care about him -

She sighed as she once again pushed that voice to the back of her mind, and thought, not for the first time, this can't be healthy...

Not to mention she hadn't even yet addressed the problem of Lloyd. Rai probably hadn't anticipated Lloyd's actions, which only went to show that the half-elf didn't understand Lloyd in the least, and certainly not as much as he thought he did. Which was to be expected, Raine thought, a little sadly. Rai had never understood the concept of helping others simply because you cared, without weighing factors of personal gain. Which came back again to her surety that he had some kind of hidden reasoning...

One thing was clear, though, despite the chaos raging in her mind. Rai might have more reasons for what he'd done than solely his worry for Genis, but the simple fact that the latter reason existed made it impossible for Raine to condemn him for it.

...

The forest seemed different today, more uncertain, far less familiar. That was saying something when it came to Lloyd Irving, because he knew this place like the back of his hand.

Today, though, as he made his way to where he'd agreed to meet Genis, nothing seemed the same, and it was like the whole of Sylvarant had turned on its head -

No longer did this forest connect him to Iselia. For him, Iselia was no longer an option - it was cut off, inaccessible. The place where he'd grown up, the villagers he had known for years - all no longer his.

That thought was fleeting, though, because there were more important things to think about. Such as what had happened to Genis, and what had happened with Rai, who was probably meeting Raine right now, or who knows what else he was doing. Lloyd had no doubt that he had done the right thing in defending Rai, but for whatever reason Rai didn't seem very appreciative. And then there was Genis...

Lloyd clenched his fists. After what Rai had done, there was no doubt in his mind that Genis was a half-elf. The look in his friend's eyes whenever his race was mentioned, his undeniable guilt when that Desian had made that announcement - Lloyd knew Genis far too well to be fooled for a second. But the thing was, that didn't matter, and he was furious that the other villagers seemed to think it did. Genis was one of the coolest people he knew, and he was smart, too, even though he was younger than Lloyd. He just hoped that Genis knew that, didn't believe for a second that he somehow was less worthy because he was a half-elf, and he hoped Genis knew Lloyd knew that...

He saw Genis up ahead and broke into a run.

And when he reached his best friend, panting to catch his breath, his heart sank more than a little, because Genis wasn't meeting his eyes.

"Genis!" Lloyd exclaimed in his friendliest voice, clapping him on the back. "I'm glad you could get away." What should I say to make him understand?

His friend's eyes were still fixed on the ground, and when he spoke, there was none of the sarcasm Lloyd was used to. "Lloyd, I'm so sorry...you were...this is all my fault - "

Lloyd didn't let him finish. "No, Genis, this is not your fault," he said firmly, placing his hands on his friend's shoulders. "I said what I did of my own free will, and I would do it again if I got the chance. I really believe it, Genis - I don't care if you or anyone is a half-elf or an elf or a bird or whatever - you're still you."

Genis looked up and his eyes looked desperate. "L-Lloyd, but it's not just that, I've been lying to you, I know what Rai said but actually I - "

"I already know," Lloyd said quickly. "That you're a half-elf. That's what you were going to say, right?"

His friend looked shocked. "How did you...?"

"Hey, come on, I feel hurt. We aren't best friends for nothing, you know."

Far from looking reassured, though, Genis looked panicked now. "But I've been lying to you this whole time, and don't you see, I didn't trust you, didn't trust you to still be friends with me..."

Lloyd almost laughed, he was so relieved. That's what Genis had been worried about? "You dork! Of course we're still friends. Look, I understand your not telling me, and honestly, it doesn't matter. Like I said, it's fine if you're a half-elf, and it was fine if you were an elf. And if you didn't tell me, I know you had your reasons. You've always been a good friend to me and there's no way I would let something like this - "

He paused and faltered a little as he realized that there were tears running down Genis's cheeks. The half-elf covered his face with his hands. Lloyd stammered, "Are you...?" He wasn't sure what he had been saying before.

"Lloyd...Thanks. I..."

"It's okay. I already know."

After a few minutes when Genis had calmed down a bit, he said, "There's more, though, you know. Like what happened at the ranch, and I know you hate Desians, but I actually sympathized with one for a split second - "

Lloyd listened to what had happened. And although he was shocked, and horrified, and angry on Genis's behalf, relief was bubbling up inside him.
He still had his best friend. And more importantly, Genis still had him.