The boy was dreaming.

He was dreaming of a forest-damp with the fresh rain that had arrived the night before, and cold with the traveling wind.

He was running in the forest, definitely out of breath, but he kept moving. His legs became wobbly and his breaths became shorter, but still-he refused to cease.

What was he running from? Something-no, someone. Yes, someone-someone who was trying to kill him. Kill him? Why?

As he finally slowed to a stop, he sat, hidden behind a tree, wheezing and coughing. There was blood all over him-all over his hands, all over the knife he was holding. A knife...? What the hell did he have a knife for...?

Abruptly out of nowhere, the crunching of leaves broke the angst-filled silence. The boy held his breath. He had company. He discreetly peeked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse at the intruder, but there was no one there.

He frowned, lips twisting into an angry snarl, and he stood up. "Stop hiding and face me. I know you're here. Fight me!"

His voice echoed through the trees. Ragefully, he yelled louder, "FIGHT ME! FIGHT ME!"

All of a sudden, a figure crept up from behind the boy. He spun around just when the other person brandished their weapon-and stabbed him right in the chest.

Eren Jaeger woke up with a jolt. He was sweating; breathing heavily as well. He looked around his room. Everything seemed to be fine. It was only a dream, he thought as he rubbed the back of his neck and peered at the time.

His digital clock read 8:25 AM.

SHIT!

School started precisely at 8:30, and what made matters worse this time was that it was the last field trip of Eren's second year of high school. Which meant that everyone would probably be at the bus by now, and knowing his teacher, Mr. Shadis, that bus would leave before twenty-nine seconds would turn into thirty.

Eren threw the covers off of his legs and got to his feet, searching for his school uniform, in a pile of dirty clothes on the floor. The door of his room slid open, and standing there was his fully-dressed sister, Mikasa. "Took you long enough," she mumbled, gesturing to his recent awakening. She took a bite out of the piece of toast she was holding and watched her brother's desperate search for his uniform.

"GODDAMN IT, MIKASA! Why didn't you wake me up?! Why didn't Mom wake me up?! Where's dad, is he at work?!"

"She overslept, Eren. I didn't wake you up because I didn't want to bother you. You looked...peaceful. And, yes, he's at work."

In a fit of frustration, Eren started throwing all his clothes at Mikasa, who dodged them speedily. He finally found his uniform and started undressing.

Mikasa's eyes widened a little and she stepped out of Eren's room. Moments later, he barged out the front door of his house like a bull in a china shop, hollering and cursing, not even bothering to say goodbye to his mother.

Eren got on his bicycle, Mikasa riding on the back with him, pedaling as fast as he could.

"Eren, you forgot to say goodb-"

"Whatever, Mikasa. It's not like we're gonna die today, and it's not like she's going to die either. We're going to see her everyday until we grow up and move out."

Mikasa sighed and pulled her signature red scarf up, trying to fight against the frigid breeze that blew against her face during the bike ride.

"You never know..." she replied, in a voice so low and fragile that it might almost be classified as a whisper.

The two teenagers arrived in the school parking lot, two minutes late. Eren ditched his bicycle carelessly, throwing it by a shrub instead of placing it in the bicycle rack (which was right next to the bush he threw his bicycle in).

He and Mikasa boarded the bus and were immeadiately greeted with mixed salutations.

"Ey, you two are late! We couldn't leave, thanks to you," Jean Kirschtein interjected in annoyance.

"Mikasa! Come here!" Sasha Braus squealed, patting the empty seat next to her, "I saved a spot for you!"

"Glad you could make it, Eren," Reiner Braun nodded.

"Can we pleeeaseee get this bus moving already?" Ymir groaned in exasperation.

Mr. Shadis made his way to the front of the bus, a grimace on his face. He clearly did not want to be in a bus full of deafening kids; you could see it in his eyes. Eren held his breath and waited for the yelling to start. His Carribean blue eyes narrowed as if to signify to the people outside that he was gearing up inside for the ear-shattering scolding.

But the humiliating scolding never came. Eren and Mikasa only received a death glare from their teacher, and a stern order of "Sit down!"

Eren took a seat next to his best friend, Armin. Armin was reading a book; something about plants and fruit. Eren frowned. "I don't understand how you can go through whole books like that. I can't even finish one."

Armin smiled and closed the book up. His baby blue eyes glittered proudly. Armin had the reputation of being the smartest kid in the whole grade-he was always reading, and though he was teased about it, he didn't really mind.

He thought reading was cool, and he always stated that belief whenever he was made fun of. Armin was always number one when it came to testing. He had never gotten anything lower than an A in school. Eren was glad he had such a genius best friend.

"Well...you should practice trying to read. Study school textbooks. Maybe your grades will go up!" Armin crossed his fingers.

Eren rolled his eyes and slumped down in his seat. "No way, that's boring. I'd much rather play video games every night then study."

Now it was Armin's turn to roll his eyes.

The bus ride was long-longer than Eren expected. It seemed like years had passed. Soon, the sky became dark. The bus became quieter, more hushed. Everyone started to fall asleep.

Eren thought it was weird. Wasn't this trip only supposed to last a day? It was already night time, and they hadn't even arrived at their destination.

He glanced out the bus window, past Armin.

"...What the hell...?" He muttered. There were military vehicles and soldiers off to the side of the road. What in the world were they doing there?

"Armin, Armin, wake up," Eren shook his friend's shoulders. Armin's head rolled around before he woke up in surprise.

"HUH?!" He exclaimed. Eren shushed him and then pointed out the window. "Look."

Armin frowned. "What are they doing here...?"

Their view of the militia disappeared as the bus went through a long, dim tunnel. Armin yawned. "I'm going back to sleep," he told Eren, and then shut his eyes. Eren gazed out the window trying to stay up, but before long, he blacked out into a deep sleep.

The sound of shuffling feet woke Eren. His eyes fluttered open. He was laying on a cold, hard surface-what was it, tile? He stretched out his arms and legs, accidentally kicking someone who was lying down in front of him.

"H-hey...!" Connie Springer moaned, and then slowly sat up. Eren sat up too. The rest of his class were also in the dark room, either sleeping or waking up.

Where were they...?

He felt something cold on his neck. His hand clutched a metal necklace-and he couldn't pull it off. Anxious chattering filled the room as the troubled students stirred.

The ceiling lights flickered on, revealing the classroom the students were placed in, and a loud buzzing could be heard from outside-what was that, a helicopter?

Why would there be a helicopter here...? Eren cringed. He then noticed that everyone else were also wearing metal necklaces.

A deep voice interrupted the chattering, startling everyone.

"Class 4B, of Sukauto Legion Academy. Please get a hold of yourselves."

The students turned to face a tall man with blonde hair and thick eyebrows, donning simple white pants and a green jacket. He was accompanied by soldiers, fully armed with guns, ready to shoot on order. There were soldiers guarding every inch of the perimeter of the classroom, making sure no one escaped.

The tall man who seemed to be the ring leader of it all flashed his blue eyes. He was wearing a small smile on his face (probably to help the students calm down), but it wasn't working because his sky-blue eyes said something different-like he wanted to get down to business right away. He was somewhat dashing.

"You may take a seat or stand," he prompted in a cool way.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Jean growled.

"W-where are we?!" Sasha Braus asked with a frazzled look on her face, "Is this a joke?"

"This isn't funny!" Connie added, "We want to go home!"

The chattering started up again, and even the blonde man couldn't stop them. Two soldiers fired warning shots with their guns. "PAY ATTENTION!" One of them snarled, glowering down at the teenagers on the ground who were desperately trying to crawl away.

Someone tugged at Eren's shirt. He turned to find Armin, who was pointing at an unfamiliar male, leaning against a wall in the back.

The older male looked rugged and dangerous; like a thug or something. His silver-blue eyes were set in a glare and he seemed like he didn't want to be where he was right now.

"My name is Erwin Smith," the blonde man introduced himself, seemingly keeping his cool through everything, "and I am the administrator of the Battle Royale Program."

Looking around the room, noticing some of the confused faces, he made his way to the chalkboard and started writing something. When he was finished, there were two letters written on the board: BR.

"I'm sure you've heard about the BR Act, right?"

Christa Renz let out a loud gasp and stumbled backwards into Ymir's waiting arms. "What, Christa?" Ymir asked with a concerned look on her face.

Christa shook her head and frowned. "The BR Act-it-I-"

Ymir shook Christa's shoulders. "What is it?!"

Erwin chuckled. "Well, at least one of you knows it. The rest of you-you should be ashamed of yourselves." He paused for a moment, then continued, walking around the room, eyeing students.

"This country's become disgruntled-it's a mess, thanks to kids like you. So the government decided to create this law-Battle Royale. You kill each other, until there's only one of you left, and you get to go home, no problem."

Shocked whispered started going around the room. "Kill each other...?" Marco Bodt gulped.

Eren narrowed his eyes and uselessly yelled, "HEY! WHAT THE HELL? LET US GO!" He got up, about to charge towards Erwin, but Mikasa grabbed his arm.

She looked calm at first glance, but once you stared into her eyes you could see there was a tiny tinge of fear lingering in them. "Eren, no." She commanded, and he wriggled out of her grasp, burning up with anger.

"Now, now, don't get all worked up, save all that energy for later when you're in the field." Erwin's eyes fell on Eren.

"This...can't possibly be real..." Sasha wailed quietly, trying to pull off the metal necklace she was wearing.

"BRAUS. Don't pull that!" A familiar voice warned. Mr. Shadis was standing by the classroom door, with a small pained look on his face.

"SHADIS-SENSEI, PLEASE HELP!" Mina Carolina shouted.

"QUIET!" Their teacher shouted back, "I expect you to listen to the administrator with respect. You will have severe consequences if you don't." He sounded like he was foreshadowing something.

"Shall we get back to business?" Erwin asked smoothly, not waiting for an answer, "Now, we need to watch the video-oh before we do, let me introduce you to Levi." He jutted his chin out in the direction of the thug in the back. "He's a new student, he'll be joining your class today.

Please make him feel welcome!"

Levi just kept his simple glare as the class turned to face him.

The soldiers by the large television to Erwin's right turned the TV on, revealing a playing DVD of a woman.

"Hello, Class 4B of Sukauto Legion Academy! My name is Hanji, and I'm here to tell you the guidelines to Battle Royale! Or, more importantly, the correct way to fight a Battle Royale!"

The brunette woman was wearing glasses and looked like she had no cares in the world. "Alrighty! Congrats on being picked this year, how lucky! Anyways...You are on a deserted island. This island is divided into many zones, and every six hours, your teacher will broadcast updates about which zones will become danger zones. You should immeadiately leave if you are in one of these zones! The necklaces you are wearing will explode!"

Gasps filled the room. The video continued.

"These necklaces are completely shockproof, waterproof and permanent! It also monitors your pulse, informing us about where you are and your movements. If you are still in a danger zone or causing trouble, we can find you and transmit radio waves that will trigger an alarm...and BOOM! Your necklace will explode, killing you in the process! If you try to rip it off, it'll explode too, so don't try that, okay?"

Mina sniffled in the back of the room, clutching her neck as if she was choking. Next to her was Thomas Wagner, who had been trying to rip his necklace off but stopped when he heard the video.

"Alright, here's the last part! Each one of you leave the room one by one with a kit! Inside the kit is food, water, a map, and a compass! Also, a flashlight and a weapon. Every weapon is different, and you might not get a good one, but if you're lucky, you will! Now, when I call your name, please exit!'

Nack Teaz raised his hand. A soldier paused the video. "Yes, what is your question?" Erwin asked.

"I have two."

"Go on."

"Why are you doing this and do our parents know?"

"Most of your parents know. At least, the ones we were able to reach. We're doing this because it's the law."

Nack nodded and looked down at the ground. Erwin gestured to the TV, and the same soldier who paused the video turned it back on.

"Boy 1#: Amsel, Franz."

Franz stood up from the floor slowly, his girlfriend Hannah clutching his arm. "I'll wait for you outside, okay?" He told her, failing to hush her crying. She nodded and let out a sob as he made his way to the front of the room, was handed a bag, and walked out.

"Girl 1#: Ackerman, Mikasa."

Mikasa let out the breath she'd been holding and got to her feet. Eren frowned. "Hey, Mikasa..."

Her eyelids fluttered as she blinked, "I'll wait for you." She rushed towards the front of the room, grabbed a bag, and left.

"Boys 2, 3, 4, and 5: Arlert, Armin. Braun, Reiner. Bodt, Marco. Fubar, Bertholdt. Jaeger, Eren."

Reiner and Bertholdt were the first of the five boys to step up and grab their bags. Armin, Marco, and Eren lingered hesitantly, but exited anyway.

"Marco, you comin' with us?" Eren asked as he and Armin trudged out. Marco gave them a kind yet worried smile. "I'm waiting for Jean. You two...stay safe. Good luck," he told them. "Good luck to you guys too, Marco," Eren replied.

Mikasa greeted the two boys with hugs. "We don't have time for that," Eren pushed her away. She looked over to the side. "Come on, we need to find a safe place to stay the night..." The three journeyed on.

"I...I can't believe this is real..." Armin breathed, looking as if he was about to burst into tears right then and there, "This is crazy!"

"I'm still trying to process what the hell is going on," Eren muttered under his breath.

"W-we're not going to kill each other, are we...?" Armin asked. Mikasa turned sharply. "Of course not! We're going to find a way to get out of this...all three of us. We're going to get home, no matter what," she replied, though her voice was breaking a little.

"We're going to stand together," she added.

Eren agreed. They were going to get home alive. He crossed his fingers and put on a determined face.

"Let's do this."

Meanwhile...

"Franz...I don't want to play this game...I don't want to kill people...! I don't want to murder my friends..." Hannah and Franz were standing at the edge of a cliff, the water of the ocean rushing under them past the rocks.

Franz threw his kit off the cliff. "I'm not playing this game either." He was trying to be brave, but his fear revealed itself in his voice. He took her hand. "Let's leave."

She nodded, and sniffled.

They jumped.

Boy 1#, Franz, dead. Girl 5#, Hannah, dead. 38 more to go.

Mina and Thomas found shelter in a ragged house. They hid under a bed, with their weapons beside them, eyes wide open and alert. Mina had gotten a book as her weapon, and though Thomas told her it was useless, she kept it just in case. Thomas, on the other hand, got a revolver.

The two huddled together in the cold dark, waiting for someone to open the door of the house. They knew they were going to be caught, but at least they would die fighting.

Suddenly, a rattling sound broke the frigid silence. There was someone inside the house with them. Footsteps walked around.

Mina crawled up, hoping to take a peek at the intruder. But it was too dark, to see, even though she squinted and prayed that moonlight would shine in through the windows.

Thomas pulled her back and they held their breaths.

A light, presumably from a flashlight, lit up the darkness and pointed itself towards the two who were hiding.

"The bed is the worst place to hide," a male voice echoed. The two hiding were blinded by the flashlight and couldn't see the face of the boy.

Thomas desperately grabbed his revolver and tried shooting, but judging by the lack of pained noises, he had missed the four shots he fired.

Mina screamed, "NO! PLEASE!" But it was no use. She was pulled out of the bed, grasping her book with her. She slammed the book against her asailant and it fell out of her hands.

The flashlight the boy was holding also fell out of his hands. "Ugh!" He put a hand to his head at where he'd been bludgeoned.

"THOMAS, THROW ME THE GUN!" Mina shrieked, and Thomas crawled out of the bed, throwing the gun at Mina, who caught it and fired.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

The boy lay dead on the ground in a pool of blood.

Thomas stood and shined the flashlight down on him.

"OH!" Mina cried out, stumbling backwards into a heap of boxes.

Boy 11#, Samuel, dead. 37 more to go.

Rico Brezenska had run out of pistol bullets, and she was being chased. "Great..." she groaned under her breath, "Just great."

She was still carrying her empty gun as she ran in zig-zag directions in the woods. Who she was being chased by; that was a mystery. But she knew she was being followed and she needed to lose her stalker ASAP.

As she was running, she tripped and fell, dropping her bag. "Shit!" She flipped around to find that she had tripped on a corpse.

"Oh...oh my God..." She inched away from it slowly. She recognized it as Tom-his eyes wide open, and where his mouth should've been, there was nothing but a bloody mess of the sort. Part of his throat was gone.

Rico assumed he'd tried to take his necklace off, despite the repetitive warnings her class received. There was something shiny sticking out from his pocket. What was that...?

Rico, inched closer. It was a butcher's knife! Ah, a weapon she could use!

She pulled the knife out of Tom's pocket.

The sound of leaves crunching under feet attracted her attention. Who the hell was that...?

She stood, pushing her glasses up and turning around in every direction, waiting for the person to come charging right at her. But there was no one there.

Rico continued to run off.

Boy 18#, Tom, dead. 36 more to go.

Annie had been watching Rico intently from behind a tree, ready to pounce as soon as she could, but she didn't. She decided to let her go.

For now.

She fingered the ice pick in her hands.

What a convenient weapon.

UGHHH. I wanted to write this fanfic for a really long time. And here's the first chapter. Right in time for Halloween (next week)! I have a feeling that this is going to be a long and winding story. Anyways. If you've ever watched Battle Royale, you know what you're in for. If you haven't, I suggest you watch it! Unless you hate blood and gore. Then read Battle Royale. Eep! R & R, please!

-InsaneAngel22