Samuel Schreave, youngest prince of Illea by no less than five minutes, was absolutely furious.

A selection. He would be trapped in the palace, surrounded by hordes of giggling girls, forced to pick one of them to actually marry. It was absolutely humiliating, being forced to do something like this in front of the country.

He stomped back to his room, eyebrows furrowed, glaring at the floor, his hands balled into fists, knowing that the eyes of the palace staff would be watching his every move.

He slammed open the door of his room, the wood making a satisfying noise as it hit the wall, probably knocking a hole in the already dented wall, the brass doorknob bearing evidence of various scuffles and scrapes with the wall.

His room was littered with soda cans and dirty laundry, the maids too afraid to attempt cleaning it up. The bed, it's forest green duvet rumpled and the pillows squashed to the side. The curtains covering the windows and the glass door that lead out to the wrap-around balcony were stained with some sort of red sauce, though it could have been mistaken for blood at first sight. The carpet wasn't the cream color it was supposed to be, the beige walls were just as bad. He couldn't remember the last time it had been truly clean, though it had probably been over a year ago.

Sam flopped down on his bed, the impact making the mattress springs bounce, a pillow pathetically falling off with a dull sounding thump. As he did so, he felt a small piece of paper laying beneath him, and twisted so he could reach it, not recognizing the handwriting.

Samuel- You've made a mistake. How's your nose? Still bleeding, I hope. Be on your best behavior, because I'm coming to get you. Clean your room while you're at it. Sincerely, Katelin

It was from her, the maid he had pushed into the closet earlier. The one who had punched him in the nose. Sam groaned, wishing he had chose a less violent girl, and touched the tip of his nose.

"Great work, next time chose one who will actually kill you," he muttered to himself, though he was pretty positive that Katelin would have murdered him if he wasn't a prince. Honestly, that girl was scary. She had worked as a maid for at least four years, being the same age he was, but he had never interacted with her until yesterday. She had short pale brown hair, green eyes that sparkled with fury, and a habit for violence, which he should have figured out before she punched him in the nose.

Thinking about his nose, Sam forced himself out of the bed and over to the mirror.

His brown hair, the same color as Fitz's, was messed up and lacking it's usual perfection. The brown eyes he shared with everyone else were accompanied by dark circles underneath, resulting from his late night sneaking out to the nearby clubs. His nose looked fairly blood free, surprisingly, even if a little bruised. He touched it gingerly, praying it wasn't broken, and winced at the pain.

He stepped back from the mirror, and looked over at the clock on the far wall, reading nearly 3:00. He had time to think before he had to face his family again, and he gave a slight smirk. If he was to go through with this, why not do it on his own terms?

King Maxon's POV

Kriss, his queen, had been the one to suggest the selection, not him.

If he would have had the choice, he would have disbanded the selection and all future ones altogether. It was too painful to even think of his own, and the danger that the royal family would be in might only increase with a selection. Rebel attacks were far between as of recent, but that didn't mean that they couldn't become for frequent.

The Northerners had stopped all attacks, but the south hadn't, and something much worse was going on with them. The Southerners, still deadly and uncaring, were splitting into two factions. Both dangerous, both wanting to murder his family, but some disagreement had happened.

The new faction, however similar, had one main difference, one way of telling which was which.

They would literally paint their faces with blood, and would slaughter everyone.

Another selection could have the same outcome as his own, but something had happened that day that just felt wrong. It wasn't when his parents died, that somehow felt inevitable, but when America Singer died, something had changed in the world, something that wasn't supposed to happen had.

Queen Kriss's POV

At the very end of her selection, the rebels had attacked. They had been disguised as guards, suddenly turning on the people, shots fired randomly into the crowd. Maxon had been about to pick his bride, and everything went absolutely wrong. Screams, blood, gunshots piercing the air. People ran from the room, loyal guards and maids trying to whisk away the royal family. King Clarkson and Queen Amberly were nearly out the door when the guard leading them had turned on them, and shot the queen in the heart, before doing the same with the king. Maxon, already out of the room, would have no idea that his parents had bled out on the marble floors until nearly an hour after they were gone, and had been in shock for much longer. The tally of deaths that day had included the king and queen, a handful of guards and maids who Kriss didn't know the names of, a maid named Lucy, Elise Whisks, and America Singer.

It had been like slow-motion, watching that bullet spiral towards Kriss's own heart. The rebel had fired the instrument of death, his finger clicking the trigger, adrenaline rushing through Kriss's body but not being able to move.

America Singer, nearly out of the room, turning back for one last look, a guard practically dragging her out the door. She broke free, sprinted over towards me, and she could only think one thought, both of them thinking it at the same moment, life suddenly taking a turn for the worst.

"I'm going to die"

That was the thought, that happened the exact second everything changed.

It had been exactly 24 years since the incident, and it still seemed like yesterday.

Prince Samuel's POV

The worst thing about his plan was that it required Katelin. She had been the only person he could think of who would do this, but first he had to talk to her.

He found her wandering the hallways, chatting with one of her fellow maids, but there was something different about her. Samuel realized that it was her clothes. She wasn't wearing a maid's outfit, not at all, but ordinary clothes. As a matter of fact, hadn't someone said something about someone's daughter visiting the palace?

And didn't Katelin look suspiciously similar to Jadie Flores?

Sam mentally cursed, but had to continue with the plan, so he followed her until she was by herself.

He took a deep breath, prepared himself for any sort of painful injury, and walked up to her.

"I need you to push me out a window," he said, startling her.

She, jumping, immediately turned and kicked him in the stomach.

"Ow. Much pain. Window? Please?" He whimpered, doubling over and trying not to puke.

Katelin put her hands on her hips, and looked at him like he had gone completely crazy.

"As much as I would love to push you out a window, why?" She asked, casually observing Sam puking into a nearby potted plant.

"To postpone or cancel the selection," He replied, before his lunch came back up and he had to turn away.

Katelin started laughing, a high clear sound that was surprisingly pleasant.

"A selection? Oh, this is going to be fun! However, how would I get away with pushing you out the window?" She asked, still giggling.

Sam tried to stand up, and glared at her.

"Say it's self-defense? You should be good at this kind of thing," He said, clenching his teeth.

"Alright, there's a balcony right over there." Katelin said, pointing it out, motioning for him to follow her.

Sam followed her, right onto the second-story balcony that overlooked a fruit tree, still wincing with pain.

"Let's get this over with,"


Chapter four, and the last of the Princes POV's! Samuel's a bit reckless in this chapter, but I hope everyone enjoyed it! I cleared up some things on America's death, and tried to do both Maxon's and Kriss's views of the event. It isn't my best, but I finished it. I'm planning on getting the next chapter out on around Thursday, maybe before.

For the SYOC, I have about a third of the girls in. I might not do the full 72, and I've started putting one or two characters in that I can eliminate in the first rounds. I want the selection to have started by the 16th, so get your characters in! I'm upgrading the number of characters you can submit to six, but they all have to be well-written and with as much detail as possible. The more detail, the more likely they are to make it to the elite!

I do have a big surprise for a coming up chapter, it might even be in the next one if enough people submit characters. If 2/3s of the characters needed are filled, I'll announce it and post a chapter. It does involve some of the characters, and it will involve me picking people to do something...

If you have any questions, PM me about them. Except questions about the surprise, because that would ruin it. Remember to review if you liked it, and get your characters in!