Summary:

No one in the Trost High School Study Group ever imagined that they'd be selected to take part in the Program, a yearly event in which a class of high school students were forced to kill each other until only one was left standing. Statistically speaking, they were three times more likely to die in a car accident than to be picked. And yet here they are. Just yesterday they'd all been normal teenagers, with quirks and hobbies and people they loved and people who loved them back. But look at them now.


Notes:

So, here it is finally, a Battle Royale AU. It's not going to be terribly violent and no gore at all, since I'm a terrible wuss about blood and I can't handle that.
I'm not sure if Levi's surname still counts as a spoiler since the wiki lists him as such, but that's the only spoiler from canonverse. There may be some parallels, but no blatant spoilers. And this is ship-free, please do not ask me about ships it is ship-free. Ship what you want, idc.


Chapter 1: Prologue

Peering out the grimy window of the school bus, Eren Jaeger watches the lights of their town disappear. "I hate study group trips," he mutters. "They never even get us out of school, which is pretty much the only thing field trips are good for, anyway. We always have to go after school. It's dumb."

Sitting next to him, Armin Arlert glances up from his pamphlet. "Feel lucky that it's not the usual lab or business corporation or history museum," he says simply. "Besides, I thought you liked the river."

"I do, but I'd rather go to, like, fishing or something. Who likes studying riverside ecosystems?"

Armin smiles. "It'll be fun." Easy for him to say, when he had loved all the trips they'd gone on, whether it was to a lab or business corporation or art museum. "We could go wading or something. Don't dismiss it already. It's our first overnight too, remember?"

Eren has to agree.

Study group is a mandatory club for anyone above the ninth grade who had gotten below a C on the first report card of the year, which was how Eren and most of the other sophomores had ended up stuck in it (freshmen had their own high school introduction tutoring group, which was reliant on entrance exam scores. Eren had been forced into that too, of course). The remaining students are, of course, there by choice, making it a pretty even mix of overachievers (mainly juniors and seniors, with the obvious exception of Armin), underachievers (mainly sophomores), and decent-but-not-stellar students who just wanted the extra credit (assorted). It also wasn't separated by grade level, nor did it have more than one overseer, leaving the seniors (eight of them) as the primary tutors. Eren doesn't hate the club, per se, but he'd definitely rather be doing something else with his time.

And he does hate the field trips. And while an overnight has the potential of being entertaining, they're supposed to get to the lodge by eleven, and lights out is on arrival.

He glances back. Jean Kirschtein, Marco Bodt, and Connie Springer are squeezed into the seat right behind them (Connie's legs are in the aisle, much to the chagrin of the driver), staring at the screen of Jean's new (read: secondhand and maybe illegal) tablet computer while the owner of which explains something or the other about the mechanics of it. Eren doesn't understand the terminology, nor does he really care.

Across the aisle is his adoptive sister Mikasa Ackerman, sitting with Sasha Braus. They're flipping through a cookbook, on loan from the home ec class. Probably comparing recipes for that cooking competition they'd entered. Eren makes a mental note to ask later if they need a taster.

Eren quickly goes back to stubbornly staring out the window at the highway while Armin feeds him various facts about the particular river they'll be spending the entirety of their precious Saturday at. Occasionally he does look over to check out a picture in Armin's textbook or something (nerd), but for the most part, he tunes everything out, wishing he'd brought his CD player.

That's probably why he doesn't register anything being wrong until Armin's head bumps against his shoulder and he looks down to see his best friend sound asleep.

He realizes after this that the bus is weirdly quiet. Looking around, he sees most everyone is asleep or getting there, slumped against windows or friends. Behind him, Jean is snoring, Marco's head is tipped all the way back, and Connie is nearly falling out of the seat. Watching them, Eren's own drowsiness becomes all the more apparent. Huh.

He looks at his watch. Funnily, it's only about nine o'clock, much too early for everyone to already be nodding off. Even Mikasa is out cold, though she's sitting straight up in her seat in a position he has a hard time imagining being comfortable. Sasha, head on her shoulder, seems to be drooling. Strange. And at the front of the school bus, the driver looks to be wearing a mask, like the kind firefighters wore. What the… what's even going on? Eren thinks he should be scared, but the intense fatigue taking over leaves no room for fear.

Wait, but someone else is up. It's Hanji Zoe, and she's slamming on the window like she's trying to break it. Eren agrees, fresh air might be nice. He starts to get up with the intention of helping, but he's too late. Hanji's body goes limp and she collapses back into her seat, unmoving.

Eren is still processing this turn in events when he collapses too.


36 students remaining.