Today is the beginning of a new school year for Feferi Pexies, it is also the beginning of her new life. Though it was only yesterday she was enjoying summer break, it is today she begins a grand adventure into her new school. For you see, dear reader, Feferi Pexies has been enrolled into one of the most elite schools in the world. Hope's Peak Academy is a school made for only the best students in the world, kids who excel at one skill so greatly that they receive the title of Super High School and be allowed to enroll in this spectacular school.
Feferi walked down the stone road on that faithful spring's day. Today would mark the day she would be acknowledged for her amazing Swimming abilities and given the title of Super High School Swimmer, a title only given to kids enrolled into the school and with amazing Swimming skills. Slowing down her pace as she reached the school's gate, she saw multiple students outside, chatting and waiting for the school day to begin. All of them must of been new students just like she was, Feferi noticed, since all of the students held a short and familiar letter in their hands.
Opening her messenger bag once again, she picked out the letter that she received on the last day of middle school, essentially the same as the letters the other students had.
Feferi Pexies,
You have been accepted into Hope's Peak High School for gifted students due to your swimming abilities. The school year will start on the first day of April. Should you accept the offer to attend you will be expected to be at the schools main gates by 8:00 AM and will be officially given the title "Super High School Swimmer". You will be given a dorm, class schedule, and all school supplies you will require through the course of the year.
Sincerely, Hope's Peak Administration Office
Looking over the paper one last time, she looked up at the grand clock perched on top of the obscenely tall building of her new school. It was almost 7:30. She sighed deeply, the last thirty minutes of her regular life. Perhaps she would spend it making new friends with her fellow classmates? Placing her letter back into her bag haphazardly, she walked over to a smaller group of students and looked over their shoulders, listening.
"So, did you see what it's like inside of this place?" asked a particularly geeky and messy looking girl, her long black hair was tangled and matted and her bright green eyes framed with similarly green glasses , Feferi noted.
A short boy across from her shook his head and crossed his arms, glaring at her. "What do you think? Of course not. No one's seen the inside of this building but the students from past years!" Feferi noticed that he seemed to be biting back insults, and she smiled widely at the cuteness of his pudgy face. Although she thought it best that he didn't know that. He seemed to have a temper.
Another boy who looked quite collected as he stood next to the messy look girl talked, "So, what's your title?" The pudgy looking boy pulled his bright red turtleneck sweater over his mouth, which looked quite too big on him, and mumbled out his title. All Feferi caught was Super and School.
The messy looking girl, on the other hand, chirped out her title giddily, "Super High School Gardener!"
Feferi decided to burst into the conversation in a similar manner, "High School Swimmer!" All the kids turned their heads or looked up at the stranger who had joined their conversation. The pudgy boy looked petrified by the presence of the new interlocutor. Feferi just smiled wider, showing off her array of nubby teeth, and continued, "I'm Feferi Pexies! Daughter to Meenah Pexies, the creator of the famous baking company!"
As soon as the words had come out of her mouth a lanky boy with clothes far too loose marched his way down to the group, holding a package with a torn open top. "Hey guys! You won't believe what I found... A whole case of faygo just lyin' on the side of the road!" Feferi looked at the new boy slightly awestruck. He towered over her, even though Feferi herself was quite tall, and even though he was slouching. His face was painted white, almost like...a skull? This made the dark circles under his eyes stand out even more. His face was also pierced all over, earrings, studs, everything. Despite all of this he was very beautiful, not really handsome, more feminine than anything.
The cool and collected looking boy stood up a little bit taller, and coughed to get everyone's attention. Feferi looked back at him and took a better look at the surprisingly cool looking boy. He was wearing a regular shirt that had a pixilated record on it, and his dirty blonde hair reminded her of someone who got attacked by a flock of birds, she had seen the story on the news. However the cool boy still looked about as bothered and bored as someone who had just done nothing for several hours. A sneer had appeared on his face since the new boy had joined their conversation. "I'm Super Cool High School Rapper, Dave Strider, possibly the most ironically fantastic man you'll ever meet 'n' greet." He said, regaining his confidence and cool look now that he had everyone's attention.
The tall boy looked at him with a kind smile. "Aw thats nice man, I don't care much for the super stuff, I'm just High School Salesmen. The names Gamzee Makara, nice to meet ya, bro." Although the boy seemed rather aloof and happy, a look of annoyance, although barely noticeable, was on his face after "Dave Strider's" bragging.
Feferi walked nexted to the pudgy boy she was standing behind earlier, and turned her face to see him blush brightly. "What's your title, I couldn't quite hear it before." She smiled brighter, still showing off her teeth.
His pupils became dilated similarly to a cat, and pushed his face further into his sweater. Gamzee looked at the boy and laughed, putting his hand on the boys shoulder. "Bro, get your head outa that sweater, none of us can hear you!" He pulled the sweater down slightly to reveal the red faced boy.
"G-Gamzee!" the boy complained. Feferi couldn't help but notice a kind of...familiarity between Gamzee and the pudgy boy, she assumed they were friends before coming to the school. The pudgy boy let out a groan. "Fine...I'm Super fucking High School Lucky..."
Gamzee grinned, "Say your name bro, or I'll say it for ya."
The pudgy boy rolled his eyes. "Karkat Vantas." He growled and buried his face, once again, into his sweater.
The messy looking girl caught everyone's attention again with her high-pitched voice, "I'm Jade Harely, nice to meet you all!" Feferi noted that Jade acted a lot like a kid, which she already loved about her. They all continued to chat for a while and drank the faygo that Gamzee brought, though Karkat did it rather begrudgingly. The remained that way for the last 30 minutes until the bell chimed and the grand doors swung open.
"All freshmen students please report to the main hall for their ceremonial freshmen orientation."
Groups of students began pouring into the school. Gamzee picked up Karkat like he was a doll and swung him onto his back. "Come on lil'bro." They walked in followed by the other kids in the small group. Feferi followed last, but as she stepped into the main hall, following everyone else, she was suddenly paralyzed. Her entire world was falling into darkness, and she fell limp to the floor.
-E 38D
Everything was black, the sound of ringing pierced my ears. I sat up still woozy, the room spinning around me, my vision going on and off. I searched blindly using my hands and found a post. I blinked a few times and my blurry vision started to clear up. I was holding onto a bed post...I pulled myself up, keeping my grip on the bed post so I wouldn't topple over. The last thing I can remember was being in a hallway, and now I'm standing in a bedroom. What happened? I shut my eyes and thought for a minute. I was going to school...I met some friends. I walked inside and...and everything went black. When I opened my eyes again I was no longer dizzy. And I wasn't alone in the room either. A small girl was sprawled out on the floor, her familiar tangled hair made it easy to know who she was. Jade Harley. The girl from earlier. Which meant I was still at school. It all wasn't just a horrible nightmare... I walked over to her limp body, and crouched down. She began to stir slightly, and her eyes opened in shock.
"Where am I!?" She asked, sitting up abruptly and looking around the room.
"I'm not sure..." I responded, looking around the room more slowly than her. After helping her off the ground, we searched the room for signs of anything. The windows were bolted down with giant bolts and sheets of steel, and all other doors but one was locked. We opened the door cautiously, and were met with a horribly lit hallway, lights flickering on and off, shadows hugging the walls. It didn't make us feel any safer for sure. Walking into the hallway slowly, the door closed shut behind us, and we both flinched, looking back at the now closed door. It had a pixilated picture of... Me? It didn't look quite like me. Besides being drawn in only black and white, it appeared I had some kind of webbed flippers on my face and... Horns? They were curved slightly, so they looked sorta like an H. I shivered at the thought of being so odd looking, to be alienated because of it. We continued anyways down the hallway, and by the door that led supposedly to my room, was one with a pixelated picture of Jade. Her's didn't have any odd attachments, surprisingly, but we didn't stop to look in it for we knew she was already out and about. Just as we were about to open a door with a picture of someone we didn't know; A girl with messy hair, glasses, and horns with a C shape in one and a slight curve in the other, the intercom came on.
"Attention all students in the halls and bedrooms still, please report to the gymnasium for your orientation." The voice said. The voice was terrifying, and it was nothing like what I had ever heard before. There are no words to describe that voice, it was...sweet and luling, but also grainy and distorted. How was it even possible? How was any of this possible, it's like some kind of twisted nightmare. None of this should be happening! But somehow I know it is. I know its real, no matter how much I want to refuse that fact. Continuing down the sickeningly red hallways down to the gymnasium, Jade and me pushed open large, overly heavy doors to the room. Inside, other students were waiting for everyone to join. All of them turned around to see who we were, and they all shared a sigh. Seemed we weren't the people they were looking for? It was very strange to...there were only a few people in the room!
The gymnasium was like my room, sheets of steel covering the windows, held down by bolts. However this room was overly lit, and it burned our eyes slightly before we adjusted to the sudden brightness. Being in a dark hallway wasn't the best way to start our day off...
Gamzee starting running towards us, dragging Karkat behind him. "Sisters, you're ok, man I was worried! I thought I passed out again! But I guess everyone had the same problem, huh?" I would have laughed at his goofiness if it wasn't such a serious situation.
Behind him Karkat grumbled and yanked his hand away. "Fucking hell, Gamzee, stop dragging me around! Where the fuck is the person in charge of this cum gargling nightmare?!" It seems Karkat's mood hasn't improved...
I shrugged and looked around the gymnasium. "Is everyone here? Does anyone know what's going on?"
Gamzee just shrugged his shoulders and Jade stood up a little at the small group of kids. "Hey wait! I see Dave!" she pushed past Gamzee and Karkat who soon followed her, although Gamzee was a little more reluctant.
As I drew closer I began to hear what Dave was saying...wait...was he rapping? "Yo confusion! I'm losin' time! What's going on? Its like a bomb in my mind!"
Gamzee rolled his eyes and tapped on his shoulder. "Yo bro. What's goin' on here? Why are you making those awful rhymes, man?"
Dave was instantly outraged. "Awful?! I wanna see you make some rhymes just as great! I'm the Super Cool High School Rapper for a reason you overgrown clown!"
Somehow, Gamzee took this as a compliment. "Thanks bro, but uh...what's goin' on? I feel like I'm on a bad trip."
A girl standing behind Gamzee sighed. "Were trapped, I'm still trying to find out why. Give me an hour to figure it out." I turned to look at the girl, she looked like Dave's long lost sister. She had the same dirty blond hair, but she wore a long pink scarf around her neck and had a skull on her shirt. A boy standing behind her grinned a big toothy grin. He looked a bit like Jade... He had a white shirt with a green slug looking thing on it, and was wearing shorts, and shared the messy hair. He looked quite regular, to describe him.
"Don't worry everyone! I'm sure everythings gonna be ok! Rose is right, we'll find out what's going on and get out of this wacky school. Im sure its just like..." he reached into his pocket and threw a cloud of glitter into the air. "A magic track!"
Rose didn't look very amused. "John, for Muse's sake, we just need to stay calm for now." She turned to look at me again. "I'm Rose Lalonde, Super High School Writer, it's an honor to meet you."
John pushed himself past Rose's shoulder, holding out his hand, "John Egbert, Super High School Magician! I'm sure this is all just part of some silly prank the older years like to hold or something." I reached out to shake his hand doubting his "prank idea" but I forced myself to believe it. Of course when I shook his hand something zapped me dully. He gave a playful smile and held up his hand to reveal a toy zapper. "Sorry, pranking is my trademark schickt."
Someone at the other side of the gymnasium began talking, getting our attention. He talked with a sort of a lisp, "Thsollux Captor, Thuper High Shchool Hacker exthtraordinaire or thome sthit." Sitting down with his laptop, he looked little to not fazed by their situation at all. His spiky blond hair made him look like he just got out of bed, and he had these 3D glasses on, which made him look oddly out of place. He looked back at our little group and called out to us. "KK, who are your frienths?"
Karkat immediately hid his head in his sweater. "Uh, Karkat's not here right now, he's in sweater town."
Gamzee rolled his eyes and lifted Karkat on his shoulders, waving his long arms as he walked towards Sollux? It was hard to understand what he was saying with the lisp. "Sollux man, sorry lil'karkats bein' so motherfuckin goofy. We're here for ya, man."
Sollux shrugged his shoulders not really seeming to care. "Ah well." He sat down and Jade and I circled him, sitting down with him. "Tho...I think I know whaths going on. It'th gotta be thome kind of tethst. To pick who ithsn't throng enough to actually be in the shchool."
Rose glared at him disapprovingly. "Interesting theory, Sollux, but it doesn't seem very viable."
Sollux pulled his 3D glasses off and started cleaning them with his shirt, "And why not?"
Rose pulled out a pen and paper and made a quick chart...I couldn't really understand it at all, it looked like messy scribbles. "See this? They've been tracking our progress for years. Why would they need to test us now? They have always been testing us."
A girl's squeaky voice piped up from the heated argument, "Can we please not argue? We still haven't seen what's going to happen yet!" She looked quite adorable, having brown, short hair that rolled up slightly, and a chubby face with large, olive eyes. She wore regular clothing, black shirt and jeans, covered by an overly large green trench coat that was covered in randomly colored patches of cloth. Wearing a blue hat that resembles a cat's head, she put up a tiny fist in emphasis.
A strikingly large looking man stood next to her. I've never seen a bodybuilder, but I imagine that they would look like him. He had large muscles, very large. It was a little disturbing actually. He didn't look like he was in high school. He was very um...sweaty...but I don't think anyone wanted to say anything and risk being mean. He looked quite intimidating, actually. How this sweet and kind looking girl next to him could stand being near such a creepy man was anyone's guess.
The large man finally piped up stammering. "N-Nepeta. It isn't polite to sp-speak out that way...without the consent of the ones speaking. You must ask first." I was shocked. This large man, this intimidating scary man seemed scared. He obviously seemed nervous about talking in front of people. How could he be scared?
The girl he called Nepta looked up at him with a grin. "Oh Equius, you worry too much! I'm strong, you shouldn't worry!" She hugged Equius' side and laughed sweetly. "Besides! If anything bad happens to me you'll take them down! Well when we're not watching My Little Ponies." My little ponies? Really? Equius had to be the strangest person I'd seen all day.
I looked at the odd pair. "So Equius, Nepeta, what are your titles?"
Nepeta's face lit up. "Oh oh! I'm Super High School Match Maker! And Equius here is Super High School Mechanic! He wanted to be an archer but hes too big and clumsy!" She held up his arm and showed off his huge hands. How could he even hold a pencil?
Equius pulled his hand back quickly. He obviously didn't want to stick out in any way, but it was nearly impossible for him to blend in. "Now Nepeta, w-we shouldn't just be bragging like that."
Nepeta rolled her eyes and climbed up on his back like a cat, "Oh hush, we're not bragging! Now come on lets go look for some food!" Equius carried her away and I just sat there. Still awestruck but the strange pair. However impossible it seemed, I had never seen closer friends.
Sollux watched them go and shook me, bringing me back to reality. "Thory about them. Equiush can be pretty sthrange. But man can he build a computer..."
Gamzee laughed and grinned lazily. "Aw yeah, Equius is one strange motherfucker. And that sister, aw man, she's almost as short as Karkat." Karkat burst out of his sweater and began to punch Gamzee in the back, though Gamzee didn't seem to mind, I don't even think he could feel it.
"You cock sucking shit scrubber! I'm just as tall as anyone of you!" Gamzee just picked him up again and held him like a teddy bear, making Karkat struggle for freedom. It seems like Gamzee wasn't even effected by us being trapped in the school.
Sollux looked down at the watch on his arm. "Sthit thith ith taking too long where the hell ith the next announth-" Sollux was cut off when a girl snuck up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down. I'm sure it'll be here soon..." The girl behind him was very...dark. She seemed to act very airy, and she looked like she had seen a ghost, or maybe she was one? Every word she said had an air of amusement to it, even in this situation. Her clothes were choppy and looked like they were old, and she seemed to be wearing winter clothing.
Sollux seemed to take her words to heart. "Sthorry Araida, I'm justh impatient thasth all. I mean, firsth they knock usth out then they make usth wait for hourths? I mean come on what kind of dick move ith that!?"
Aradia just smiled nonchalantly, and looked to the other's sitting next to Sollux. "I'm Aradia, if you didn't know. I'm Super High School Medium. Hopefully things will begin looking up for us."
The door flew open, leaving us to look in horror or surprise. A lady stood in the doorway, her hands outstretched. She had long, curly blond hair, and dark blue eyes. She had a choker on with a pair of dice tied onto it. She wore a leather jacket, a black t shirt and ripped jeans, and she looked downright intimidating. She had a spider web tattoo tracing her cheekbone and had many piercings like Gamzee.
Behind her stood a young woman with a look of disapproval and...affection? "Vriska, that was completely uncalled for." she said, walking in front of her, but keeping her eyes on Vriska. The young woman was wearing a long, red skirt that looked quite stylish, and made her shirt look a bit plain in comparison, although she sure as hell made it work. Her stylish pixie cut gave her the look of a model businesswoman, and framed her dark, well shaped face. Looking over the gymnasium with her hands on her hips, she almost screamed to the randomly placed people, "Hello everyone, I'm Kanaya Maryam, Super High School Seamstress. And I politely request that all of you find some order and make a straight and organised line if anything!"
Vriska walked bossily in front of Kanaya, and mockingly placed her hands onto her pointy hips. "And I'm Vriska Serket, Super High School Gambler, and you can keep where you are." She laughed insanely, looking back at Kanaya with a sneer. Kanya hesitated and opened her mouth to protest but quickly shut it, looking at Vriska with slight annoyance. Vriska strode forward towards us like a shark until she was in front of us with all eyes on her. "Alright everyone! We need a leader if we want some fucking order." she grinned cockily. "Now...naturally I nominate myself. What do you think, Kanaya?"
Kanaya stood uneasy behind her but soon regained her composure. "Well...I think we should hear what everyone has to say, after all someone with a gambling problem shouldn't have this kind of responsibility." She looked at Vriska disapprovingly until Vriska glared at her furious.
"Excuse me?!" Vriska yelled, Kanaya shrunk back slightly and bit her tongue.
"Lets at least hear what everyone else has to say...I mean...I'm not saying you wouldn't be a good leader! Just...we need to hear what everyone else has to say..." Vriska still unsatisfied turned away ignoring the other girl.
The minute Vriska turned her head a book flew forward and nailed her in the face. "Hey! Who the flying shit made you queen of the bitches you fucking shit burglar?!" Karkat stood defiantly in front of Gamzee and proceeded to hurl more books at Vriska. "You shouldn't talk to anyone that way, you fuck for brains!"
"Karkat!" Rose stood behind him outraged, stomping her feet. "You give me back my books right now!"
Kanaya looked at Rose confused and picked up one of the books quickly reading a few pages. "Interesting..."
Vriska rolled her eyes and threw a book back at Karkat. "Watch who you're throwing trashy books at! If you're not careful, I'll have to go over there and beat the shit out of you! I swear you little short fucking basta-"
Vriska was cut off when a tall, lanky girl pushed her away in front of her, her ginger hair bouncing all over the place as she yelled at Vriska with that shrieking voice of hers. "You watch who you're yelling at Vriska!" She scrunched up her face and pressed her nose to Vriska's, glaring, "You can't just march in here and tell us your the leader, its unlawful! We need balance, not some narcissistic bitch telling us what to do."
Vriska shoved her away and let her fall to the ground. "What are you doing here, Pyrope?" She sneered at the girl on the ground. "Theres nothing special about you, how did they even let you inside of this shitty school?"
She stared up at Vriska blindy, an insanely wide smile on her face, filled with surprisingly sharp teeth. "I'm not sure, how did they let you in? I mean, gambling isn't an actual skill."
This sent Vriska off the deep end, she started screaming incomprehensible words, with Kanaya following her, trying to calm her down. "Vriska, calm down now. You know she meant nothing by it. Gambling...is...well...it can be a skill."
Vriska swung around furious. "Can be? CAN BE?! I want to see you or that little shit Pyrope try and do what I do! You have no fucking idea!" She pushed her way past us and into an empty corner of the gym leaving Kanaya alone next to us.
Kanaya sighed and walked back to the girl lying on the ground. Kanaya helped her up and rolled her eyes. "Terezi you know better than to say things like that to Vriska."
Terezi gave a wide grin and patted Kanaya on the shoulder. "Oh come on! She deserves to be knocked down a peg. I don't see why you still hang around her..." Terezi began to crack up. "Then again...I don't see at all!" She started laughing insanely and Kanaya glared at her. Terezi stared blankly at the general direction of me, and she stopped laughing. "So, I'm Super High School whatever the fuck I want to be. And It's nice to meet you all." She continued to smile. Walking over to me, she sat down on the ground, crossing her legs like a preschooler. "Soo.. Pexies I presume? Aren't you the daughter of the chick who runs the giant baking company?" John shivered at the sound of the mentioning of the baking company.
Jade knocked into the conversation, "Yep, She's Feferi Pexies, Super High School Swimmer."
Terezi scoffed, "I wouldn't think the daughter of a great baker would be known for swimming..."
John sat up straight and crossed his arms. "Stop saying that!"
Terezi stared at him blindly. "Stop saying what?"
John bit his lip and whispered. "Y-You know...b-baker..."
Rose groaned and and slammed her face into her hand, "Really John?! How long are you going to be afraid of bakers, its absolutely ridiculous. No baker is going to take over the world. I swear sometimes I don't even understand you, Egbert."
I looked at John sympathetically. "Ah...um...I'm sorry, I guess we'll stop saying it..."
Equius walked over with a small boy in his hands and a folded up wheelchair in the other, and Nepeta, still holding onto his neck. "I think this is the boy we're missing, he's the one we're waiting for." The boy waved weakly, his shirt the only thing keeping him up at this point.
The boy piped up his hushed voice, "H-Hi...um...I-I'm supposed to be working on my um...self esteem...so I came to talk to you all...I...I'm um... M-My name is Tavros Nitram...a-and...I'm Super High School a-animal trainer...and I-"
Nepeta interrupted, "Yep, now we can have our orientation!"
At that moment, something came up from the stadium at the back of the gym on a stage platform. Most of the strange person's body was hidden by a podem, which was decorated with the school's symbol, only it seemed the usual mascot for the school was replaced by the shape of the rising person's head. The person looked quite normal, besides a sphere for a head, and it's entire body being half white half black, split down the middle. On the black side of his head was... a red circle? It looked like it was painted on, dripping slightly and being cut off by the white part as though it were meant to continue.
Then the figure began to talk, it was the same voice from the intercom.
"Hello all of you, and welcome to the new beginning of the rest of your lives. You may know me as Monoscratch, possibly the best principal who runs what is possibly the best school in the world, and I must add, I am, undoubtedly, the best host ever." He said, though nothing on his body moved to symbol a mouth of any sort.
A shiver ran down my spine, and the room got colder dramatically. I turned my head to see what everyone else was doing, everyone seemed disturbed by Monoscratch.
"What is it you want with us?" Said a haunting voice. I turn around to see it was Aradia, standing as if she had come back to life and was ready to fight. I flinched slightly and moved out of the way with everyone else, herded near the stage.
Monoscratch raise his arms like scales, tipping his body to the left to emphasis this stature, "Why, my dear girl, you're here for a very...very...simple task. None of you could possibly fail. You're here to spread despair. Wonderful, glorious, despair."
Aradia stood up taller and glared at him...she didn't look angry, but more condescending and disapproving. "Despair? How are we supposed to spread despair?"
Although we couldn't see it, due to the lack of a mouth, Monoscratch was probably smiling. "Simple. It's incredible simple. The rules are that you, all of you are stuck in the school, for as long you live. However, you can try to get out, but you have to follow my rules if you want to escape successfully. All I ask of you to do is to commit a murder. And I'll let you 'Graduate', thus letting you free."
Immediately frightened screams and gasps filled the air, I felt like the world was going to go black again, but I caught myself before anything could happen. We grew silent and continued to listen as Aradia started to protest again.
"And why would we want to kill someone?! This is ludicrous, I demand we be let out!" Aradia continued her argument, "To commit murder and take ones life is illegal as well as extremely morally wrong! When we are released and the outside world finds out about this, you'll be shut down!" She began to sound like Terezi...
Monoscratch laughed. It was sickening and I felt like my body was shaking, "Oh but thats the thing...you won't get out. None of you will, unless of course you play my game. It's a simple exercise, just kill and be let out."
I backed up looking for ways out and panic began to spread through the crowd as kids tried to escape. Vriska looked up from the corner at Monoscratch and walked forward seemingly unfazed. "Well? How are we supposed to kill? We have no weapons." She continued to question him when the sound of metal on metal filled the air.
We all turned our heads to see Equius punch the iron clad window. "Hang on Nepeta! I'll get us out of here..." he continued beating it and everyone watched with hopeful eyes. If anyone could do it, Equius could. Gamzee and Karkat jumped up to help him and soon all of us were beating on the windows or trying finding a way out, except for Monoscratch, who was eyeing us in amusement. After a few minutes of punching the windows, everyones hands were raw. We looked up hopefully at the metal searching for any sign of it being damaged. There wasn't even a dent. Everyone returned to standing near the stage, filled with disappointment.
Monoscratch laughed again and looked at the crowd. "Well? Are you done? Its useless. You have two choices, kill and escape, or stay here forever."
Karkat looked up at Monoscratch, looking like he was about to attack him, but continued he barad of verbal attack, "What is it with you?! There must be some sort of catch, we can't just kill a person and get out free because you shit stain obviously have something hidden! Tell us and stop being so cryptic!"
Monoscratch looked down at Karkat, sending fear into him to go back to standing, and continued, "Well, what a smart crab ass we have here. You got me, there is a catch. If a murder is commit, you don't go scot free. A trial will be held once a murder is commit, and the innocent have a chance to convict the murderer."
We all looked around at each other, trying to weed out the people who would murder for freedom, but I continued to look up at him, scared for my life, "I think the best choice of plans is to just live in here... It's not like we'll die from hunger or anything, we can eat from the fridge 'n' stuff..."
Monerstrach pointed a finger at me, and I flinched, expecting to be smited or something, "Correct, I wouldn't be a good host if I didn't keep you alive. Anyway, what's the fun in just watching you all die from hunger? Compared to forced murder, starvation is nothing."
John looked up smiling faintly, he was probably trying to encourage everyone else. "So lets live here!"
Vriska crossed her arms and glared at him. "What are you, stupid? Do you think everyone is going to put up with staying in here forever? They'll only listen if we get some damn order! We need a leader, like me."
Kanaya looked at Vriska awestruck. "Vriska! Theres more important things to worry about then nominating yourself as a leader!"
Vriska rolled her eyes. "Really? 'Cause I was wondering what you thought was a good idea, genius. Why don't you just speak up, hm?"
Kanaya flinched and looked at the group obviously not comfortable with the idea. "I'm just saying...we should do things in a more organized manner...avoid power struggles..."
Vriska turned back to look at us. "Alright then! If you think you're good enough to be a leader step up next to me." Instantly some courageous students stepped forward...Karkat, Dave, and Sollux...Vriska glared at them. "Well then...is that all?" I hesitated for a second and walked next to her uneasy...my mom is the owner of the worlds largest baking company...thats kinda like leading people. Vriska looked at me, raising her eyebrows. "Hm...interesting, Pexies. Didn't think you'd have the guts." She reached into my bag leaving me no time to try and stop her as she grabbed the letter and a pen. "Kanaya, I need you to write down the number of votes for each candidate."
Kanaya snatched the letter and pen away from her, "Fine..." she looked at the kids who were left. "Raise your hand if you want Vriska to be the leader." I thought more people would vote for her,Tavros did...although he was probably afraid of Vriska.
Kanaya marked the numbers down. "Alright. Who wants Karkat as the leader..." a lot less hands shot up. Nepeta was waving her arms frantically while standing on Equius who looked rather uncomfortable...she sure wanted Karkat to be the leader. Karkat looked at the small amount of hands with his usual glum frown.
Kanaya counted the hands. "Who wants Dave as the leader?" Dave got around the same votes as Vriska. And that left only for Sollux and me to get voted for. "Alright! Who wants Sollux as leader?" she looked at the silent group for a minute...then two...then three, and still no one raised their hand. Finally Aradia raised her hand. I looked at Sollux feeling sorry for him...but I swear I saw him smiling, like he knew something I didn't. He simply walked back next to Aradia and picked up his laptop like nothing happened.
Kanaya sighed and looked at me. "Who wants Feferi as leader?" Honestly I did not expect anyone to vote for me, it was more of a silent hope...but most of my friends did. Jade, Gamzee, John, people I'd really gotten a chance to talk too.
Kanaya wrote down the last of the numbers and counted up the totals, a smile spreading across her face. She glanced at Vriska, who looked very angry and her smile disappeared. "Dave wins. From this point on he'll be the leader." Dave continued to look coolly around the gym, though he was obviously shaken by the news of murder.
When we all looked back at the stadium, Monoscratch was gone. I sighed in relief as the room began to get cheery again. It seemed that taking our mind off of the murdering deal calmed us down a lot. All of us flooded out of the gymnasium, talking and murmuring about the newly found news. Then the intercom went on again.
"Congrats, Strider, and may you all find despair in your lives."
I shivered, but my attention was drawn back to Dave who began talking to all of us. "Alright! As your new fucking awesome leader I say that all of us should explore the school, find some fucking food and water and all that shit!" and with that I continued on my way to the any other part of the school. Looking over the hallways, it seemed only the bedrooms' hallways were red and dreary. Every else was like middle school all over again. Looking at a signpost to find my way through the school, I picked up a pamphlet with a map of the school, though most of the map was scribbled out with red. I walked down the hall following the map towards the lunch room, opening the large doors into a room much like the gymnasium. The only real differences were that there were tables set out for kids to eat at. I walked down to a small illuminated counter where the lunch would be served. I jumped over the top into another room, the kitchen. It was cold and dark...lots of metal and it was certainly unsettling. I walked to the fridge cautiously, this room was terrifying...I reached out to open the door when a loud clang made me swing around. What I saw wasn't nearly as terrifying...just unsettling and strange. Behind me stood a boy. A student probably.
He had short black hair styled into a kind of mohawk with hair gel and a purple stripe down the center. He had giant glasses...I couldn't really see his eyes since his glasses weren't functional. They were neon purple and bared across his eyes like window shades. How could he even see? He had a long purple jacket almost like a robe no...like a cape. He also had a plain t-shirt, the strangest blue striped pants that matched his far to long blue scarf. Meaningless to say he didn't look very dangerous. The strange boy looked at me and leapt forward wrapping his hands around me...this was um...awkward, to say the least, "Oh my glub! who are you?! Oh, I don't care! I've been stuck in this damn school and I can't find any fuckin' management to get me out of here!" He pulled back and grinned at me. "What's your name, girl?"
I stared at him confused and finally managed to mutter some things. "Uh...I'm um...Feferi..."
He instantly jumped away brushing off his jacket. "Oh well uh...pft..." he pulled off his glasses and stared at me, "Well you know...I didn't NEED you or anything Fef..."
I blinked a few times. "Um...excuse me, do I know you?"
His jaw dropped. "Know me? Are you fuckin' kiddin' me, Fef? I'm Eridan Ampora. You know, the son of that 'rival baking company', thats not all! I used to know you girl! We went to school together!"
I wasn't trying to be mean or anything...but I honestly had no idea who he was. "Um...I'm sorry I just um...don't remember you?"
This didn't go over well with this Eridan guy..."Don't remember me?! Feferi! You must be jokin' I was like...your fucking B.F.F.!"
I backed up, this was getting scary...he was starting to really scare me. "Um...I-I uh...I don't think you were."
He grabbed my hand, no matter how much I tried to pull back. He pulled me into another really...REALLY awkward hug. "Shush Fef...its ok! I forgive you, 'cause thats just the kinda fuckin' great ass friend I am."
I stayed silent and just waited. Maybe if I didn't do anything he'd go away.
He stood back up and looked around. "Now show me to the rest of those filthy students! We gotta get some fuckin answers! Come on Fef!" He dragged me out the door...there was nothing I could do.
He pulled me back down the hallway talking non-stop about me and him being friends. I just blocked it out. I mean, I liked the guy and all...or at least I would have if he hadn't been so weird. But I couldn't stand him! I just walked with him, nodding my head agreeing with what he said hoping he would leave me alone. He marched down the hall for another hour going in circles until Sollux spotted us. Sollux! He would save me from this wacko! Eridan stared at him and walked up to him right up in his face. "Soll...well well well...long time no see."
Sollux snorted and pulled Eridan's glasses off, "Sthit head. I didn't WANT to thee you."
I whimpered, trying to pry eridan's hand off my arm. "S-Sollux...help me..."
Eridan rolled his eyes and flipped his jacket sassily, like a cape. The jacket hit me in the face and Eridan pulled me off my feet. "Well Sol! I'll have you know that I don't need to speak to you! Or any of you other fuckin' morons!" He pulled me into another hug, sending me onto the verge of crying, "Me and Fef are perfectly happy without filth like you!"
I started shaking my head wildly but Sollux just burst into laughter, "Wow really Eridan? You musht be really alone, sthit head."
Eridan turned his head back and threw me at Sollux. "Fine! Take Feferi to the rest of you while I gather my things! I won't trust you with them, you shit." he marched off to the dorm rooms.
I started crying in happiness. "Thank you Sollux! He was terrifying!" Sollux shrugged his shoulders and dropped me on the ground, walking back to his group, Aradia and Tavros. I pulled myself up and walked to them. I finally got a good look at Tavros when I did, he looked cute. Not in an attractive way just...adorable, like Nepeta. He was tiny and had big, chubby, tan cheeks. He had a brown mohawk...I think he did it to make himself look tough but it just made him look cuter. He had giant, brown, doe eyes and a big nervous smile. He had a leather jacket on, again I think he did it to look tough, and he had jeans and a t-shirt like everyone else. The most curious thing was that tucked into a side pocket on his wheelchair, a tiny stuffed bull toy and few books, mostly self help but I swear I saw a copy of a Peter Pan picture book. Aradia was sitting in front of him showing him some stuff she found in the classrooms, trinkets and stuff. Sollux looked up at me. "Stho why were you with that freak?"
"Well I uh...h-he came out of nowhere! I was searching the lunch room and he latched onto me like a leach!"
Aradia let out an airy laugh, still not looking up from the trinkets, "Eridan? Yes, he tends to do that..."
Tavros squeaked. "E-Eridan? H-He told me that I was worthless...and only half a man...I...I'm not even a man!"
I patted Tavros on the back and smiled. "Don't worry kid...you're not worthless! You're...adorable!"
Tavros smiled nervously and spun around wheeling away. "Well-Uh...T-Time to go back to Dave!"
Aradia smiled and grabbed Sollux's arm. Sollux was completely submerged in his laptop, so he just let Aradia pull him around. Walking back, we saw the rest of the students surrounding Dave, waiting or telling him what they saw. Everyone seemed relatively cheery, you know, minus the whole being stuck in this school thing. The only person who really didn't look happy was Vriska. She was sitting down in the corner rolling her dice...she was obviously still upset that Dave was the leader. I didn't like her very much but I didn't want to leave her like that, so I walked over to her.
I sat down in front of her. "So um...Vriska are you ok?"
She glared up at me and smirked, "Why wouldn't I be?"
I was about to say more when Gamzee grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me away, "Oh no Sis, you don't wanna mess with Vriska shes uh...well she ain't very chill."
I looked back at Vriska who was just smiling over at me. "Not very chill what do you mean?"
Gamzee frowned, it made me feel bad I couldn't imagine him without a goofy smile. "Well sis...uh...one time Vriska got in this bad bet with Terezi. Most of us actually knew each other, ya know? Same neighborhood and all that. I guess you didn't know us cos of your mom and all that. But anyways...Terezi made this bet with Vriska, and Vriska lost. Vriska didn't take it to well, she doesn't like losin'. So she went all mother fucking crazy! She blinded Terezi, it wasn't the only thing she's done! I'm pretty sure shes the reason poor Tav cant walk man...that was just sad, but he's too scared to tell us what happened. That mother fuckers just to sensitive..."
I looked over at Tavros who was reading his book with Terezi...even though she couldn't read..."Vriska did all that?"
Gamzee nodded and started walking me away from Vriska and towards Dave. "Just steer clear of her, sis. I'd hate to seeya get stuck in her mother fuckin crazy web like Kanaya."
I continued on my way to Dave, hoping to inform him of the kitchen, since to the best of my memory, it was completely full. Most of the crowd that was near him had gone off to do whatever, so it was the perfect time.
I was going to start, but he interrupted me, "Yo, Pexies, what did you find?"
"Well, the kitchen near the entrance in completely stock, and it seems only the lighting in the bedroom hallways is messed up. Mind telling me some stuff?"
Dave looked up at the ceiling, still wearing his sunglasses despite being in the dark hallway, "Well, all stairways to the second floor are cut off, either by gates or some shit. Theres a incineration room, a storage room, a laundry room, and a community bath near the entrance. Also, if you haven't noticed, there's a giant ass safe lock blocking the entrance way. That weird Mono dude also left us some P.D.A's, though only information on ourselves and the school rules are actually on there. I also have to admit, the choice of colors for the background are pretty good."
"Where can I get a P.D.A?" I asked, trying to look up at the ceiling to see what he was looking at, though it was much too dark to actually see where the hallway's top was. How could he see with sunglasses?
Dave pulled out a pamphlet like mine from his pocket, and motioned for me to look with him. Stepping to stand next to him instead of in front of him, we looked at the scribbled-on map together.
Pointing to the pixilated picture of my self with the slightly curved horns, he continued, "Well, this is your room, Feferi. We've been trying to determine why only like two thirds of us have messed up pictures, but nothing's come up so far. Well, anyway, you can find your P.D.A. in your room's drawer, along with some a plastic case of items. We've boiled down the choices, and decided they were for the murders Monoscratch wanted us to do. Though, in retrospect, there are other choices of murder in other places, like rusty pipes and knives from the kitchen and incineration room."
"Thanks, Dave!" I said cheerfully, though I wasn't feeling all the cheery. Things seem to stick in my head easily, and the news Monoscratch gave us wasn't an exception. Walking off to check on others, I was met by Kanaya, who was watching her P.D.A. and scrolling through it's information, holding onto what seemed to be an extra pair of clothes.
"Kanaya?" I asked, trying to get her attention.
Kanaya looked up from the P.D.A. "Oh, Pexies...I didn't see you there."
Walking closer cautiously, I continued, "What's it you've got in your hands?"
Kanya looked down at the clothing and smiled. "Oh it's just an old project I made, I was going to go put it in the laundry. You can come if you're interested."
"Well, all right..." I might as well get used to everyone and learn a bit about them. I began to walk with Kanaya towards the Laundry room with her, going through the lit hallways near the entrance.
As we walked, Kanaya was generally friendly, just trying to make polite conversation I guess. "Do you have any interest in fashion Ms. Pexies?"
I thought about it for a while, then answered, "Well, my mother wanted me to, but I don't really care much for clothes. They get in the way when you're changing into swim trunks. How did you get into fashion?"
She smiled and pushed the doors to the laundry room open. "Well...I always had an interest in it I suppose. Sadly, I haven't exactly had the best company...Although you probably know that already. Vriska isn't exactly the world's best friend. And I suppose that with her constant insulting me, I had to find something I excelled at...and fashion just kind of worked. She never really insult my work in fashion, I make most of her clothes anyways."
I tilted my head at Kanaya. I wonder why Vriska was so... mean? Stopping as Kanaya opened the door, I started to walk back to the kids still outside their door. "I'll see you later, Kanaya, I need to go find something out."
She loaded the clothes into the washing machine. "It's ok darling, I'll see you later too, I suppose."
Walking back, I accidentally slammed into the form of someone. Just as the person moved to turn around, I fell to the ground, startled greatly by the large mass. It was Gamzee, looking like he had something done to him, since he looked incredible scared. He nearly screamed and then covered his mouth. "Sis! Woah, I uh...ha...I didn't seeya there." he held out his hand to me...something was definitely wrong with him.
Holding onto his hand, I noticed he had to use all his strength to help me up. Very odd for someone who could pick up Karkat without hesitation, but maybe it was just my imagination. "Are you feeling all right?" I asked in concern.
He laughed...it wasn't his usual goofy and calm laugh, it was more nervous. "Me? Oh I'm fine, sis...I just uh...I took some bad pills...if ya know what I mean."
I shook my head and cleaned off my skirt, I would have to clean it soon... Looking back up at Gamzee, he seemed to have restored some of his usual self. I smiled weakly, what had really happen to him? "Well... All right. I was actually just coming to see you!"
He grinned. "Really? Oh no joke sis! You know I was just gonna go get some pies from that lunchroom, you found it so you wanna come?" he looked over his shoulder...once he did it I noticed that he had been looking over his shoulder the whole time, I just didn't really notice...something was definitely wrong.
"Well... All right! I'm great at baking, so maybe I can help you cook something?" I laughed slightly, trying to lighten the mood, and we continued on our way to the lit hallway towards the kitchen. I noticed that the lights were bleek, giving off the feeling of a hospital... I had a sick fear of hospitals, so I clinged onto the still recovering Gamzee.
Gamzee smiled at me, taking a break from looking behind us. "You ok sis? You seem all shook up."
I sighed, trying to relax myself and remind myself it was just a school. A school filled with possible murderers... "Yeah, it's just... I don't understand why we're here."
He sighed and just kept walking. "I don't know...so...you like swimming?" he was trying to change the subject, of course...
I perked up anyway, Swimming was my favorite subject. It was always there when no one else was, I could always swim when I felt down. "Well, of course I like swimming! I didn't get my title for nothing."
Gamzee nodded, seemingly satisfied that I had "forgotten" about my earlier comment on what was going on. "Yeah. I'm a salesman, Karkat says its useless and that I'm some kinda motherfucking shit scrubber but I like people so I think it's pretty chill."
I looked up at him, he looked quite taller since he had straighten out... "What sort of stuff do you sell?"
He started laughing and reached into his pocket pulling out a small plastic bag full of some green plant. "What do ya think, sis?"
We had gotten to the kitchen's door, and I opened it up for both of us. Watching him stride in, relaxing more now, I mimicked him, pretending to stand taller and marching in. He laughed slightly, and I blushed since I had become so confident at a silly action. "Well, anywho, do you know where the swimming pool in the school is?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his P.D.A. He opened up the map function and shrugged. "Not quite sure sis, this mother fuckin map is like...scribbles." I looked at the map and for a second. I wasn't even sure if he could read or not. Looking over his shoulder, I moved the picture of the map around. Seemed there was a garden... but it was most likely blocked by gates. We'd have to speak with Monoscratch about the gates later, but for now, we would bake.
Gamzee rushed over to the cabinets pulling out all the supplies we would need to make pie. We started working and talking. When we finally pulled it out of the oven, he poked a hole in the side of the pie, putting in some of the plant from the bag he showed me earlier.
I smirked up at him, even in this situation he was still going to make himself happy. "Well, enjoy your self, Gamzee, I should really be getting used to my room."
He finished putting the drugs in the pie and nodded. "Of course sis! Oh but uh," he grabbed a jar of honey and poured it on top of the pie. "Give this to Sollux for me sis, that motherfucker reeeeally needs to loosen up."
I laughed nervously and took the drugged pie, walking out of the kitchen to leave Gamzee with himself. Walking back to the bedroom hallway, I opened up the door to my room.
I made my way towards the desk to grab my bag when Eridan, the little creep, popped out from under my bed, "Fef, where the fuck have you been?!"
I flinched and dropped the pie, letting it fall to the ground onto Eridan's head. He spit in disgust, and pulled his hand up, wiping the pie off of his head. "W-What?! Is this Gamzees pie? That fuckin lunatic!" he jumped towards the sink, dunking his head in it, "Fef! Help me get this fuckin mess outta my hair!"
I ran to help him, grabbing the soap bar on the sink and helping to wash out his hair. I eventually got him to calm down, and we cleaned his hair in silence.
He dried off his hair and began to work on it, trying to mold it back to it's original shape, "Thank you Fef, god! I don't know why Gamzee makes the horrible pies, I swear that dirty clown should really get a job." he growled as he continued to work on his hair.
I sneered at him behind his back, and continued on my way to my desk. Opening one of the drawers, I found my P.D.A. and the weapons Dave was telling me about. A packet of a pistol and six bullets, along with a phillips head screwdriver. Looking around the room, it looked pretty normal. It looked just as it did when I woke up with Jade, though a practice sword was added near the corner...besides that everything was normal, the same fuschia colored walls and books scattered across the table and countertops. Eridan looked over at me and grabbed the pistol, popping a bullet in. He swung around and fired at the window. "Eridan what are you doing?!"
He ignored me and put another bullet in the chamber, he fired a second time and sighed. "No fuckin use..."
I glared at him and snatched the gun away. "Idiot! You just wasted two bullets firing at my window for no reason!"
He laughed. "I didn't just fire at your window at random. I was trying to break the metal, just take a look..."
I hesitated for a minute before marching up to the window, the bullet was flattened onto the window, stuck there. When I pulled it off I found the other bullet. He fired and hit the exact same spot... "Well...impressive...I guess, but you still wasted the bullets!"
He sneered at me. "Were you really gonna use them, anyways, Fef?"
I looked towards the ground, holding onto the smashed bullet tightly. "Maybe I could've use them in self defence! Maybe I could've used it to help me get out of this place..." I looked back up at Eridan, he looked shocked, as if what I had said had rubbed him the wrong way.
He walked towards me and grabbed me by the shoulders, I tried to pull away but it was no use. "Fef-Fef stop struggling and look at me!" He rolled his eyes and grabbed my face. "You are not, ever, Going to hurt anyone. Because you won't be able to forgive yourself, do you understand me?" His eyes were soft with concern, but his voice filled with determination.
He let go of me slowly, allowing for me to free myself. Sighing, I sat down on my bed. "So, Eridan... How has life been taking care of you since the last time we met? You know, when we were kids?" I may have not remembered it, so it would've been good to see what he remembered.
He shrugged and slumped down onto floor, his back against the wall. "Fine. I got sent to some boardin' school...it was fine but after some ridiculous fight I got sent home and into public school with the other idiots we're stuck in this school with."
I looked him over. He looked much different from when I first saw him, he looked like he was wearing everyday clothing, something a business man would wear on his day off. Having much less products in his hair, he looked actually... nice. I smiled slightly at his softer appearance, but continued talking. "So, what's your title?"
He glanced at my pistol and grinned. "Super High School Marksman."
I clapped my hands together like a kid, "Impressive! I always knew you had what it took to become such a good Markman!" I lied, but my feelings for the title were true.
"Oh, so you do remember huh?" He crossed his arms and laughed, "Yeah, I was really good at that dart gun game so I'm sure you're not too surprised."
I laughed lightly, but my smile disappeared as something crossed my mind, "Why were you under my bed?"
He quickly jumped to his feet. "I'll be going now!" He took off rushing to the door. I watched as he left, contemplating why he was hiding underneath my bed, when the intercom came on.
"All students report to the media center." Monoscratch's voice rang through the halls, coming in through the door of my bedroom, which was slightly ajar.
I walked to the door and opened it completely, watching as people filed out of their rooms, some looking at their P.D.A. for guidance to the media room. Walking with the group of people, we all made our way to the garden, which surprisingly wasn't gated off. The garden was the only place in the school that would have showed the sky, but it was blocked off by a steel plate hanging lights like the ones in the hallways. We continued on our way to the other part of the school, to the Media room and other classrooms. Back into the bleak hallways we had grown familiar with, I opened the door to a rather large, tan room with a oak stripe at chest level along the walls. In the farthest room was a dark screen that took up the entire wall, and there were several desks with old computers, part of the desk hiding their screens from any side viewers. Near the door was a desk, a mess pile of folders splayed across the desk with everyone's name on the folders. I searched for my name, but was rudely interrupted as Vriska and Sollux came in and reached over my shoulder, moving around the folders, looking for theirs'. I quickly found mine and made my way to a random desk, and sat down. Vriska made her way too, sitting close to me, as the rest of the students filed into the room. They all found their folders and made their way to desks, when Karkat finally sat down. The dark screen turned on, and Monoscratch sat in a computer chair, expensive looking screens blaring the symbol the podium in the Gym had behind him. He swished around blood red wine in a wine glass, and began to speak.
"You've finally made it. Well, since you've all taken to your new rooms and gathered all you could about this bleak place, I think I've waited long enough. These folders hold disks, and on these disks are your motives." He put emphasis on every little word, doing his best to put feeling into his sentences.
I looked around the room, few people were off put, other and notably stronger students opened their folders and watched what the disks' held. I followed their lead and took out my disk, opening the drive for my computer and booted up what the disk had on its self.
A picture of a familiar, older looking girl took up the screen, when the camera zoomed out. On a golden throne stood a girl I couldn't remember the name of. She looked rather punkish, wearing baggy, torn pants and a cut top. Her hair was long, longer than mine, and was braided into two pigtails. She wore glasses of a pink much like mine, and wore a smug grin on her face. Putting on the headphones attached to the hard drive, I noticed the disk had sound. Monoscratch was talking about this girl, Meenah.
"Dearest Feferi, do you remember your life? How you've tried too hard to stop your sister? Well, it'll all be for nothing. Meenah will be the new face of Crocker corp, and she'll become the new owner of the family business." I could hear his smug laugh before his continued. "You must know what she'll do with the company, right?" The camera zoomed out more, rusty blood stained the room around Meenah as she smiled widely. Mother stood behind her throne, too tall for the camera to get her face into frame, surprisingly. She wore the familiar outfit she always wore on posters, a bright red dress with a white apron and collar, her shiny hair hanging longer than my sister's. The camera zoomed out again, to show the building they were in was surrounded by destroyed skyscrapers and a blood red sky filled with clouds, sirens filling my ears. "We don't want that to happen, right?" Monoscracth's voice filled my head. I almost gasped at the sight, the camera zooming more and more out to show wrecked city blocks and limp bodies. My face felt hot as the disk popped out, finished its hold on my emotions.
I was crying, the salty, warm tears gingerly flowing down my face and onto the hand that held my mouth. Closing my eyes, I tried to calm myself down, and looked around at my friends. They all shared some form of the shocked expression I had, though I could see Gamzee staring at his screen, no lights flickering on his face like the others. Did he watch his disk? I took off my headphones when I heard a scream, a scream that could of only come from one student, Eridan. I looked around to try and find him, when I saw him hastily get up, almost tripping, and run out of the darkened room.
I could see Karkat hesitantly get up, and I followed with. We made our way to the hallway, where Eridan laid on his knees and hands. He was crying, loudly at that, and I cautiously moved to rub his back. Karkat got onto his knees and held onto the crying figure's shoulder. He looked up slightly, moving his head to look at me and then to Karkat, he got off of his hands to sit on his knees. He laid his head silently onto Karkat's shoulder as I made calm circles on his back and Karkat started patting his head. Looking back towards the Medium room, the others had filed out to see Eridan blubbering as he cried, wiping away his tears quickly. They all looked shocked at the sign of Eridan so affected by his motive disk.
"Eridan?" I nervously asked, obviously sounding concerned. He glanced up at me and turned away. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. "Eridan...what happened?"
He paused, whatever made him cry like that he didn't want to tell me. "I saw my father... somethin... uh... somethin' happened to him."
I hugged him... it was... odd. "I'm so sorry...I'm sure it was all fake." I look back at the others. "Right?"
John wiped tears from his face and smiled weakly, "I-I'm sure...I'm sure it was all fake...this is all fake..."
Rose shot him a worried glance and sighed. "We shouldn't dwell on it. We need to plan out what we do next." she looked at Dave. "Well?"
Dave was cleaning his glasses, his eyes puffy and red, probably from crying. He looked up, shocked as everyone's eyes were on him. He quickly placed his sunglasses back on, and continued "We should.. We should go to the kitchen, we need to leave this place to calm ourselves." People shook their heads in agreement, and they began their way back to the main hall.
"Can you get up?" I asked Eridan, who was still latched onto me. I felt as he moved his head side to side. "Karkat? Can you help?"
He mumbled something I couldn't catch, and placed a hand onto Eridan's head, moving it over onto his own shoulder. Moving his hand around Eridan, he slowly raised himself, forcing Eridan to follow with. I raised myself, but heard as he talked to Eridan as the two made their way to the Dining area.
"Ssh...Ssh... Everything will be all right." I turned around to see Karkat petting Eridan's head. It was a completely odd sight, considering the huge height difference between the two. Eridan was just blubbering out words in a high pitched voice, swaying his hands around a bit.
Gamzee walked up behind Karkat and started at him for a bit. "Bro...what happened to this mother fucker?"
Karkat looked up at him and mumbled under his breath. "Gamzee...not now..." Gamzee looked back in front of him and kept walking. Everyone was affected by this...even Gamzee seemed off.
We walked back down towards the dorm rooms and we separated. I stayed in the hall for a minute and watched Eridan stumble to his room. I felt bad for him...this really hit him hard. I opened the door to my room and sat on the bed. "Maybe I should just rest..." I mumbled to myself. I curled up under the blanket and dozed off.
End of Chapter.