Chapter Text
A girl with hair red as blood stood alone. She was new here, but most people couldn’t tell. She fit the fearful and frantic aura of the sad excuse for a boarding school.
She had arrived so late last night that it could be considered early in the morning. A man had dropped her off and left as soon as he could. Like he was eager to get away from her.
The girl seemed just as eager to get away from him, despite only being 5. She was evidently wounded by the limp in her step, but she didn’t complain once.
It was now lunch hour the next day, and she had taken her lunch and was attempting to find a place to eat in the dusty and dark “cafeteria”.
Her teal eyes were blown wide as one of the older boys stuck his foot out to trip her. She fell face first onto the floor, her lunch spilling all over the floor.
“What was that?!” the lunch monitor (a teacher assigned to the job, much to her dismay) yelled from across the room.
There was a pause when the teacher saw the mess that the girl’s soup had made on the floor. It was like the whole world was holding its breath.
“You little brat,” the teacher growled under her breath. “You’re new here, aren’t you? Perhaps I should show you what happens to little girls who make messes.” The teacher raised her arm to drag the girl somewhere, and the girl put her arms out in front of her to block a non-existent blow.
“I did it, ma’am,” A voice sounded from behind the teacher.
The teacher swiveled around and was met with a boy around the same age as the girl, his head bowed and blonde hair shading his eyes. The girl almost audibly gasped when she realized he had pointy ears. Like the elves in the story books her mother would read her when her father was out of the house.
“Excuse me?” The teacher asked, annoyed.
“I thripped her,” the boy answered shortly. Two things were for certain. The boy also had small fangs, and he was definitely not the boy who had tripped her.
“Of course you did, you little monster, ” the teacher growled again, grabbing a hold of one of the boy’s unnatural ears. He let out a small whimper. “I’ve warned you about stepping out of line before, haven’t I? You know what happens now.” Then the teacher dragged the poor boy away, holding him by his ear.
The girl watched him with a scared look.
An older kid, maybe around 15, walked up to the boys who had really tripped the red haired girl, and said, “I saw that. Clean this,” he motioned to the mess of soup, “up before they get back.”
He didn’t even mention what had happened to the blonde boy. He didn’t stand up for the blonde boy, or for the girl. And the boys who had tripped her didn’t really look remorseful. In fact, they looked rather pleased with themselves.
What is going on? The girl thought to herself. She looked at the teen with wide eyes, and he barely acknowledged her before returning to his seat at a table.
The girl looked to where the blonde boy had been dragged away. She made up her mind, and snuck a muffin off the lunch counter before following the teacher and the boy.
It didn’t take her long to find who she was looking for. She could hear the yelling down the hall. She was sneaking through hallways when she heard the commotion stop. She heard a door open around a corner and quickly hid behind a door to an empty classroom. She watched the lunch monitor leave another seemingly empty classroom and go back to the cafeteria from her hiding spot.
When she was sure the hallways were empty, she snuck out from behind the door and into the classroom.
The boy was curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, his shoulders shaking as he silently sniffled. His ear was quite red and he had weird hand-shaped bruises on his arms.
The girl tilted her head and walked towards the boy. He heard her footsteps and looked up fearfully, but his expression changed to confusion when he saw who it was. His eyes were green and dull.
The girl sat across from the other child and opened the muffin wrapper. She split the muffin into two equal pieces and held out one half to the boy.
He cautiously took it and inspected it before biting into it hungrily.
Both children ate on the ground of the classroom. When they were both finished, the girl quietly spoke up. “Thanks.”
The boy seemed sort of surprised. He just shrugged.
The girl took that as an invitation for conversation. “I’m Luci,” she introduced, smiling and encouraging him to go next.
The boy paused, as if not sure what to tell her. “Lloyd,” he answered shortly.
The two sat in comfortable silence for a while longer.
Eventually Lloyd spoke up. “Why are you being nice tho me?” he asked.
Luci was confused by this question. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you? You helped me!”
Lloyd gestured to his ears. “Becauthe my earth are weird. And my teef are weird. And I thound weird. I’m a monther,” he said sadly.
Luci pouted and tilted her head to the side. “Why does having pointy ears make you a monster?” she asked.
Lloyd seemed to think for a moment and couldn’t come up with an answer.
“I think your ears look awesome. Like elf ears. I wish I had elf ears!” She paused for a second, thinking. “And elves aren’t monsters. They’re always heroes!” Luci said with typical five-year-old excitement.
“Really?” Lloyd asked, intrigued.
Luci nodded her head. “My mom always told me stories when I was younger!” A haunted look crossed her face for a second, but she shook it away quickly.
“Can you thell me one?” Lloyd asked quietly, rocking back and forth a bit.
Luci smiled, and began.