THE brightness from the overhead ceiling light seemed to blind you as it burned through your eyelids. The pain of it caused you to open up your eyes. But as you did, the light shined right in your eyes. You groaned as you rolled over onto your right side to try and shield your eyes from the light.

But as you did you got a sharp shooting pain from the back of your head. Hissing from the pain, you gritted your teeth as you reached back to touch the back of your head. Your hand was met with a bandage that had been placed right where the pain came from. You hand traced the bandage as it wrapped around to the front of your head.

What the hell is this? What happened? You asked yourself.

Then you looked over and saw the school nurse talking to your parents. They were standing in front of her, just a short distance from you, as they talked. Your mom and dad were standing there, dressed in their work suits. Your dad had on one of his blue button-up shirts, gray slacks, gray jacket, and his favorite tie that had green and blue stripes that alternated the entire length. And it was finished off with his black polished leather dress shoes. Your mom was wearing a blue silk blouse, black skirt that came just above the knee, and her black heels. She had her black suit coat draped over her arm as they talked. They must have came straight from work.

"...so it seems like a mild concussion from falling off of the chair." The nurse was telling your parents.

"I still don't understand how this happened?" Your dad asked with concern. "Our daughter doesn't just 'fall' off of her chair?"

"We're still trying to find out exactly what happened from some of the other students that were in that area at the time." The nurse told your dad.

"I can ensure you sir, that we will do our best to get to the bottom of this." She tried to reassure him.

"Yeah I bet you will." Your dad said in a low angry tone.

You could tell that he didn't believe that one bit.

"Enough honey." Your mom said as she tried to calm him down, to which he turned away as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

Great. Now my parents are upset. You thought to yourself as a feeling of dread started to take over.

This day just keeps getting better. You thought sarcastically.

Will the torment never end? You thought as you sat there for a few minutes. I can only imagine what the rest of the school thinks now. 'hey it's the kid who got hurt during lunch.'

Perhaps if I get back to class I can play it off as if it was just a bump. You thought to yourself. Then the teasing won't be AS brutal.

"I'm fine dad." You said as you sat up and gritted your teeth as the pain shot through your head again.

"Oh god, honey." Your mom said as she rushed over to you and put her hands on your face to lift it up and get a better look at you. "Are you okay? Are you in pain?"

You gave your mom a weak smile.

"I'll be alright mom." You tried to reassure her.

"I just need to get to class is all." You stated as you placed your hands on hers and gently removed them from your face.

"Ohhhh no your not. We're leaving here and taking you to the hospital." She told you in a determined voice.

You knew that voice all to well. That meant she would have her way no matter what you said.

"But mom?" You tried to protest anyway. "It's the first day. I still haven't been to all of my classes yet."

"You have all year to get to your classes." She insisted as she grabbed your hand to help you get up. "We're going to the hospital to have you checked out."

"No mom." You said as you rolled your eyes as you tried to stop her.

"Come on honey." Your dad said as he approached you and stood beside you.

How can this be happening? No one will ever forget the girl that got beat up on the first day of school, for the rest of the year. Perhaps the entire time I'm in middle school. You thought.

But as you tried to stand up to follow her, your legs gave out on you again. Your dad quickly reach over and caught you under your arm. If your dad hadn't caught you would have been on the floor again. You had tried to reach out and grab something to stop yourself. But that had only succeeded in having one hand hit the bed and the other hit your dad in the leg which made it amazing that he still caught you.

"Woah. Careful there kiddo." Your dad said as he caught you.

Then he wrapped his arm around your waist and bent down as he picked up your legs with his other arm so that he could carry you bridle style out to the car. That's when the whole day finally hit you as were being picked up by your dad. And immediately you crumbled in his arms.

This has officially been the second worst day of my life. You thought as you buried your head in his chest as tears started to run down your cheeks again.

You were glad that your dad always made you feel safe from everything. He was always there to protect and defend you. And not once had he ever looked at you as being weak, even when he had to come help you out. He would just smile, give you a hug and then would help you try again. You had always loved him for that. And right now, that is what you needed.

"We'll be in contact." He said as he started to head out of the nurses office with you in his arms.

"You can count on that." He finished with a stern voice as he walked out of her office and on down the hallway towards the main office.

Your mom followed, after she silently gathered up your backpack and jacket. Several students were in the hallway staring at you, as your family walked past them. Some of them were whispering to the person beside them, while others just stared out of curiosity. The scene was enough to make you bury your head further into your dad's coat so that you could avoid their gazes.

Little did you know that at that minute there was a certain sandy blonde student with glasses who had stopped in his tracks. He had immediately recognized your parents walking down the hallway. And as he watched, he noticed your dad carrying someone as your mom followed.

Is that (y/n)'s parents? He thought as he watched your parents walk down the hallway.

Then his eyes opened wide and his heart started to race when he saw your legs dangling from his arms. Is that (y/n)?

"Someone told me that she fell off of her chair and hit her head." Ignis heard one student whisper.

"I heard Gwendolyn shoved her." Said another.

"That's what I heard too." Said a third.

"I heard that Gwen shoved food in her face as she pushed her off of her chair." A fourth chimed in.

Ignis clenched his fists as he felt his anger starting to build up. He narrowed his eyes and turned on his heel to confront the only person that he knew that would have caused this. He thought that he had heard your voice earlier that morning in the hallway talking to Gwendolyn. But you had walked away before he had had a chance to talk to you.

Right then he knew that he just had to prove to himself that he had indeed been right beside you again, after all of that time. He felt a pinch of guilt build up in his stomach as he walked down the hallway to find Gwendolyn and confirm his suspicion.

I can't just stand by and let her get dragged through the mud. Not again. He though. Not when I can stop it this time.

He knew that there was only one person who would have even tried anything with you, and that would be Gwendolyn. Especially since he was the one who had stepped in this morning and interrupted Gwen and her friends from their "fun" as they called it. It didn't help that Gwen had been constantly trying to get his attention so that she could get closer to Noctis. She had no feelings for Ignis, nor did he have any for her. Her only desire was to be as close to Noctis as possible so that she could try to get a hold of his power someday.

Ignis had seen it way too often not to recognize it. That was one of the main reasons that he didn't date nor have the desire to make friends with just anyone. He was real cautious with who he associated with. In fact all of his friends were within the walls of the Citadel. There were way too many 'Crown Chasers', as he called them, for him to trust anyone outside of the circle of people that already worked directly for the royal family.

"Hey Iggy!" He heard being called from over his shoulder.

"Hey! Wait up man." Said a lean built figure as he came jogging up wearing the same uniform as Ignis.

He put his hand on Ignis' much leaner shoulder when he was close.

"Not now Gladio." Ignis told his best friend as he shrugged off his hand. "I need to find Gwendolyn."

"Wooooah. Wait a minute?" Gladio said with surprise as he fell in step with Ignis as he walked through the hallway looking for the presumed attacker. "Please tell me that you didn't just say that you had to find Gwen?"

"I'm afraid you heard me correctly." Ignis stated as he stopped in an intersection so that he could scan each hallway to see if he could spot her. "I need to talk to her concerning a certain matter."

"No 'matter' is worth talking to her about and you know it." Gladio said with a stern voice as he watched his best friend's face as he scanned the crowded hallways.

He can't possibly be serious right now. Gladio thought to himself.

"The 'matter' is worth it, when it concerns (y/n)." He stated as he spotted Gwen down one of the hallways and started heading in her direction.

Gladio paused for a minute as he registered what was just said. Then he fell back in step with Ignis.

"Wait? What about (y/n)? Has Gwen done something to her?" He asked as his voice was starting to show a rise in his temper.

"I can't be certain until I find out for sure. But I do have my suspicions." He told Gladio.

"And those would be?" Gladio questioned.

"Do you recall our earlier conversation about the girl in the eighth grade hallway this morning and how Gwen was bothering her?" He ask Gladio.

"Yeah. What of it? Other then the fact that Gwen is still up to her old tricks." Gladio added as he recalled his past experiences with her.

"Well I could of sworn that the voice I heard from that girl belonged to (y/n)." He stated almost to himself as he walked around a few students who were standing in the middle of the hallway.

"But I wasn't able to confirm my suspicion since she walked off before I had a chance to talk to her or get a good look at her. All I saw was her long (h/c) hair as she walked around the corner at the end of the hallway. The hair color matches (y/n). But height wise I can't tell since we all grew since last year and we have no idea how tall she could possible be at this point. But just now I saw (y/n)'s parents coming from the nurses office." He said half to himself.

Gladio stopped in his tracks and turned around to look back towards the hallway that they had just left.

"Are you serious?" He asked in surprise. "I didn't know that she was going to be coming to this school?"

"Neither did I." Ignis stated before he paused for a moment as he was deep in thought.

"And now seeing (y/n)'s parents walking down the hallway carrying what looked to be (y/n)." Ignis said as he looked down for a minute as he stopped in his tracks. "Then there were the other students who kept talking about how a girl fell off of her chair and had hit her head at lunch."

"I heard about that from some of the guys in gym." Gladio stated in a faint voice as he stopped and looked at Ignis with a worried looked. "But how can you be sure that is was her? I didn't get the name of the girl."

"Nor did I." Ignis stated as he moved again as he continued towards Gwen. "But I know what I saw earlier. And that was Gwen starting to give that girl a hard time. Just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That itself doesn't sit very well with me no matter who it was towards."

Gladio caught up with Ignis and grabbed his arm and quickly turned him around so that he was facing him.

"Please tell me that you not planning on confronting her head on with this?" He stated while scanning Ignis' face for his reaction.

"Of course not." Ignis stated as he yanked his arm away from Gladio.

"Not directly anyway." He added as he straighten back out he jacket and coat sleeve.

"No I'm simply planning on recording our conversation as she mentions anything about the incident." Ignis stated as he pulled out his small tape recorder that he sometimes used for his classes. "Would you mind lending me your assistance?"

"Huh. I like your style Iggy." Gladio smiled at his friend.

"Alright. Count me in." He said as he gave Ignis a hard pat on the back.

The force was enough that he almost knocked the wind out of him as it caused his glasses to slide down the bridge of his nose.

"Umph." Ignis grunted Ashe fought to stay on his feet.

"Alright then." Ignis said after he straightened back up and pushed his glasses back up.

Ignis and Gladio then walked down the hallway towards Gwen. She was standing in the hallway next to her two friends that always seem to be right next to her.

"So what's the game plan?" Gladio asked as they got closer to them.

"I need you to distract her two friends while I talk to Gwen alone. Hopefully I can get her to tell me what happened, without her being distracted by her girl friends. I need her to tell the truth and if they are there, she will more than likely try to change the story." Ignis stated as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of nose.

"Are you going to be alright handling her alone?" Gladio asked with a concerned look. "You know that she has been after you for years now?"

"There's no denying that. But I'm actually going to use that to my advantage." He said with a slight smirk. "Besides, I'm more concerned about you. Are you going to be able to hand the other two? They would love to get their meat hooks into you as well."

Gladio laughed back at Ignis.

"You act like this is the first time that I've had to handle these two." He replied with a smirk.

"So don't worry about me. There isn't anything that they can do to me that I can't handle." He said as he nodded his head in their direction. "I'll just wait for your cue when your done."

"Hopeful this won't take long. All I need is for her to tell the true story and then we can be on our way." Ignis stated just before they approached the group of girls.

"Well hello ladies." Gladio said is a smooth voice.

Both of Gwen's friends blushed and one slightly giggled.

"Hello yourself Gladio." Gwen said in a equally smooth voice to Gladio before looking at Ignis was a seductive look.

"I see you boys are just as dashing as ever. Did you two stop by just to see me?" She said as she stepped closer to Ignis.

"Well, yes, in a sense." Ignis started as he straighten his glasses so that he could keep Gwen from coming any closer to his face. "There is something that I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh really?" Gwen replied with a twinkle in her eye.

"And what might that be?" She asked as she took a hold of his tie again and pulled it out from inside of his jacket.

"Well its something that I was hoping to discuss with you in private. If you are willing?" He said in his usual smooth voice.

Gladio was impressed that so far Ignis' voice hadn't waivered once. But then again, it was Ignis. He was known for not losing his composure, no matter what. The one and only time that Gladio had ever seen Ignis lose his composure. And was when they had found out that Noctis had been severely hurt and was being taken to Tenebrae for treatment by the oracle.

That had been one of the few times when Noctis had been somewhere without Ignis or Gladio. Everyone thought that he would be safe considering he was with his mom and dad. No one could have ever imagined that the caravan was going to be attacked by a daemon. That horrible night had changed everything forever.

"We'll be right back girls." Gwen said with a sly smile as she pulled Ignis around the corner by his tie.

Ignis followed without hesitation. Gladio then leaned one arm up against the locker closest to the two friends and rested his head in his hand and crossed his ankles.

"So, what have you lovely ladies been up to lately?" Gladio asked with his usual flirtish voice.

Ignis saw this and smiled as both girls blushed and giggled.

He sure has a way with girls. Ignis thought to himself as they disappeared around the corner.

Now that their out of the picture, its down to business. He concluded as he turned his attention back to Gwen.

"So have you finally come to your senses about us?" She asked as she leaned back against the wall.

She eagerly eyed him as she ran her fingers down his tie as she pulled him closer to her.

"You know that it only makes sense for people with our stature to be with each other. With your family being in the service to the royal family and mine being one of the richest families within the city with our research developments. It's as if we are meant to be. You know what I mean." She said as she tried to pull him closer to her.

"Yes, well as intriguing as your proposal is, that's not what I wanted to discuss with you." Ignis stated as he only allowed himself to be pulled in close enough for his tape recorder to be able to pick up her voice.

He reached his hand inside the outside jacket pocket and pressed the play and record button at the same time so that it would start recording as he tried to keep her back as he pulled his hand back out.

"So Ms. Yeagre" Ignis began.

"Please call me Gwen. That's my mother's name." She said as she leaned closer.

"Yes Ms. Gwen. I wanted to ask you about the young lady that you were talking to this morning in the hallway."

"Not her again." Gwen said as she rolled her eyes.

"I was just messing with her. She was clearly lost and had no idea where she was going. I was just going to show her back to her classroom." She said as she lower her head while keeping her gaze on Ignis.

"Oh really." He asked as he slightly dipped his head. "Is that why you were trying to lead her towards the girls bathroom that was in the opposite direction?"

"I just wanted to make sure that she looked good before we headed back to her hallway. That's all." She said as she placed her hand on Ignis' chin.

"I didn't want her to look bad when she was heading to her first class." Gwen stated as she ran her finger along his chin.

"Indeed." He said as he felt his skin crawl under her touch.

It's hard to look good when your hair is plastered against your face and smells like toilet water. He thought as he kept his temper in check.

He knew all too well what her real intentions where.

"You didn't happen to catch her name did you?" Ignis asked.

"No. Why would I?" Gwen asked as she dropped her hand from his face and looked at him as if he had offended her.

"Why would I care what her name is? I probably wouldn't see her stupid long (h/c) hair again in our hallway anyway. Besides, I don't usually talk to commoners like her. Especially when their only in the 6th grade."

"Not unless she's seated at your preferred table at lunch that is?" Ignis interjected.

"Well someone had to tell her that I always sit there. You weren't there to let her know, so I had to tell her myself." Gwen said as she raised her hand back up and ran the back of her fingers across Ignis' check. "She'll know better now then to sit in my seat."

"But you can join me anytime." She said as she leaned up and was inches from his lips.

He could feel her breath as he tried to back up. "No. That's okay Gwen. I usually eat my lunch in the library while I'm doing my studies."

"Well then, perhaps you could come over to my house and we could study together." She said.

"My private suite has plenty of room in it." She whispered in his ear before trying to kiss his earlobe.

Ignis quickly pulled away.

"No I think not." He said as he stepped back and pulled his tie out of her grip.

He then straightened his tie again before putting it back inside of his jacket.

"But I do appreciate you talking with me Gwendolyn." He told her as he turned to walk away from her.

"What, leaving so soon?" Gwen asked while giving him her best doe eyes.

"Well I do have to head for class now Gwen." He said as he started walking away. "So I'll bid you a good day."

As he rounded the corner he saw Gladio still talking with Gwen's two friends. They were both smiling and giggling at him.

He is way to into keeping them occupied. Ignis thought as he smiled at his muscular friend.

"Gladio, it's time." Ignis said towards Gladio.

"Ah. It must be time for class." He nodded towards the two girls who both giggled back at him.

"Well girls." He said as he straightened back up.

"I'll see you around." He stated waved back at them as he followed Ignis and fell in step with him a few steps later.

"So did you get what you needed?" Gladio asked in a hushed voice.

"Indeed I did." Ignis stated as he reached into his pocket as he turned off the tape recorder. "All I need to do now is turn this into the office. This will prove that Gwen has been harassing (y/n) and it should put a stop to it."

******Authors Note******

I apologize for the delay with this chapter. It took longer than I thought it would. But this was partially due to the holidays and I had to split up this one. I was getting way too long. ;)

I hope you enjoyed it and keep an eye out for the next chapter that should be coming out shortly.

And I'll see you in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading. :)

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