IT HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED.

I know most of you like skipping the author's notes, but I recommend reading this to avoid future confusion.

As all of the Selected need to start on an even playing field, I made sure that the amount of description or elaboration given on each girl was the same...

At least, until now.

Now that all the girls have been introduced, the real game has begun.

As you will probably know, SYOC fanfics are almost entirely reader-based - especially for fanfics like the Selection Trilogy. The forms you submitted at the start of the story will define your character's future. It's the same for this one - I write the story, but how the story goes depends entirely on the forms that you guys submitted. There's a certain way I picture Prince Alexander's personality to be like, and I know what kind of girl he will choose in the end. (I mean, even I don't know the ending yet, but I can guess.)

Currently, I have no idea how I'm going to arrange the eliminations and dates. One of you guys asked me about how I'm going to go through the whole process, and I was a bit worried because I didn't have any particular system planned out beforehand. I don't know if others have a certain system, but I like to think my story just kinda... goes with the flow. I'd prefer letting the story flow and choosing the eliminated and the dates as the story progresses - you know, not with a certain rule on who gets to do what if they do this or that, but more like choosing the option that would currently best fit the flow of the story. FTC is set in the future, and the Selection's system is pretty different than that of the original books. Okay, a lot different. I changed a bunch of major key points to make the story more... original, I guess? So yeah.

The elimination process throughout the entire Selection will go roughly as follows:

...

Pre-Selection (the two most valid options from each province, picked by royal advisors)
Selection (drawing the envelopes, done by the crown prince)
First Elimination (removing fifteen Selected considered unsuitable from the group, done by the crown prince, choosing the first group of Elite, done by the prince, his parents, and royal advisors)
Second Elimination (only the Elite remain)
Final Elimination & Selection (chooses the bride)

...

This is going to seem very unfamiliar. This is because in this Selection, the Eliminations do not bring the Elite; rather, the Eliminations and the Elite are two completely different concepts altogether. The Eliminations are when unsuitable Selected are removed from the Selection. The Elite are a group of five (not six like in the series; five) girls who the prince thinks most closely of. They (the Eliminations and the Elite) go parallel to each other, meaning that the Elite will be in the Selection as the girls are eliminated.

Basically, as soon as the First Elimination is completed, the prince will choose five of the Selected he thinks he feels for the most and they will become the Elite. The Elite will be able to interact more freely and more often with the prince; they will have more chances to meet each other. They're not given too many unfair privileges or anything - they do get more time with the prince, but the Elite are there mostly for the prince to organize the Selected and help him stay aware of the current options. As you can see, the Selection is a bit too materialistic. While it's not something that is intended, the Elite are highly respected by the servants and maids, the country's people, Royals, and the rest of the Selected because it is obvious that they have a higher possibility of becoming the future Queen.

The Elite can change; the prince (and/or advisors) can change the members of the Elite whenever he wishes.

I will shortly be posting the names and statuses of all the Selected in my profile, along with the other characters who will appear in this story. The Selection in FTC doesn't have as many eliminations as some other fanfics do, so it'll be some time before the prince decides who to eliminate and who to choose as members of the Elite. There will be the meeting at the start of the Selection, but the prince won't be eliminating anyone right after that. People these days value a lot of thought put into decisions - even more so than the past, so Alex will be expected to be doing exactly that when deciding who to eliminate and who to keep.

As I mentioned earlier, this story is centered around your forms that you PMed to me at the start of this story. They will decide what will happen to your character, and eventually what will happen to this story.

You can add or remove information in your forms any time in this Selection. Just PM me with any ideas, suggestions, requests - anything. If your character is soon to be having a date with the prince, you can PM me with any thought on how you think the date should go, and what you think should happen while on the date... etc. You can also PM me with requests and suggestions about previous chapters that I wrote about your character, for instance, what you think didn't portray your character well, what you wish changed for your character, what you hope will appear more frequently in future chapters.

From now on, the character POVs will not be anything close to even. They can be long or short, the POVs will not be in order, and sometimes I may dedicate whole chapters and even more to a single character. The length of POVs do not necessarily decide the outcome of the Selection; just because a character had an entire chapter as a POV does not mean she will win, nor does a one-word POV mean I feel that character has no significance in this story. If you think your character isn't being portrayed as much as you think she should be, just PM me and inform me about what you think should be changed about the story and/or your character's current form.

Even if your character doesn't have a POV in a chapter doesn't mean she won't have one in the near future, so there's no need to worry about any of that. What I'm trying to say here is, don't feel the need to put much meaning to the length of POVs. They're probably quite insignificant - what actually happens in the real story is what truly matters.

(Shoutout to the user HTMLfreak for creating the French Royal Family! Tysm :D)

.:*:.

PRINCE ALEXANDER

We accompany the girls to the main hall - which has been cleared out for the day - where their maids are waiting for them. Anna, Sera and Logan part us on the way, saying they need to get Anna prepared for her first meeting with the French prince. I agree with their decision; Anna needs Sera's sense of humor and Logan's sense of calm right now. She seems almost hysterical as she's led away by her siblings.

When we reach the main hall, most of the girls let out shocked gasps. Seb and I exchange amused glances - they have no idea how big and complicated the palace is. If their reaction is this big at the sight of the main hall, I'm sure some of them will faint when seeing the ballrooms for the first time.

Speaking of the ballrooms - we're apparently going to be having a lot of balls in the Selection. I honestly have no clue why my parents still bother to hold balls, out of all things. It's not like this is the seventeenth century or something. Seriously, people should do something about this. I get that keeping traditions is important for us, but that doesn't mean every single thing we used to do should remain even now, when we have technology and definitely do not need to go around having meaningless balls.

...I'm starting to sound like Sera.

Each group of two maids is assigned a girl, and we watch as they are led away to the Styling Rooms to be dressed up for dinner. Mother and Father are new to this Selection - they know the rules and how it should go, but Father decided Mother was the one very early on in his Selection. My grandparents had no need to tell him to go through anything - they already had a very suitable bride, who was in much love with their son.

I'm different, though. I just can't seem to find anyone. Mother and Father try not to put much pressure on me, but the Rebels are coming and the Royals need a way to convince the people that our country's future will be going as planned. They need to show the people that our country is united - and what better way to do so than to show how friendly the crown prince is becoming with girls from all around the country?

.:*:.

MARIS

Seb gives me a small grin as I walk past with my two maids. I know them both already - Relli and Nevaeh, both are maids I've met a couple times around the palace. I don't know them that well, but I do know them enough.

We exchange a few words of greeting as we start the way up the stairs.

.:*:.

ARIANNA

I can't help but stare at the high ceilings, chandeliers, and paintings in awe as we are led up the stairs. All around me, girls gasp in shock and fascination, some even in barely concealed jealousy.

So the rumors were true, I guess.

.:*:.

PIPER

I look around with mild interest as we walk past the walls of paintings. They were painted the traditional way, with actual human painters, nothing digital involved. There's a lot of gold to be seen. I'm positive they used real gold.

The palace, it's honestly the best thing I've seen in my life. It has an old-fashioned and modern feeling to it at the same time. Once we get our individual cards, every room we enter will adjust its room temperature, lighting, et cetera so that everyone in the room will be able to feel satisfaction.

That's only the start. A few years ago they had a map installed inside the palace - because so many visitors got lost inside the enormous building, we can use the small screens on the walls of every room to insert your destination, and then an arrow will light up beneath the floor just in front of you, following you around and pointing towards your destination. I've seen this kind of technology in places like tourist attractions, but in someone's house? Never.

It's honestly really cool.

.:*:.

GRAYSON

Are the Royals flaunting their wealth? This is absolutely breathtaking!

We enter a hallway where the sides are lined with dressing rooms - a long, endless array of curtained booths. We're each assigned a room, and one by one the Selected begin to enter with their maids.

.:*:.

EIRA

Reena Garland beams at me before she disappears through a curtain to my left, giggling at the very thought of a makeover.

Doesn't she know that Veronica Sonnenfeld, the vulture from Kaynd, is staring at her the way a predator eyes its prey?

.:*:.

STAR

"Hi," Grayson Danielle Chandler says quietly, and my head whips around to face her. I force myself to look into her eyes, remembering how disappointed Savannah Hastings was when I didn't do so.

I know that I'm now something much more respected in society than a mere maid, and I try to act the way it is expected of me, yet... It's just so hard. All my life, people told me that I would never amount to anything other than someone who is used. And as time passed, I began to tell myself the same thing. There was no way I could dream when my life was one itself - a nightmare.

"Hello," I reply, noticing how Grayson Chandler's eyes light up with kindness. She seems nice, the way her grin lights up her entire face, not just her lips. That's how I can tell. The smile my "owners" give be before they start hitting me is the opposite of how Grayson is smiling right now - the smiles are there, but they don't reach their eyes. The eyes are full of malice. Pure evil, nothing like the girl standing next to me. She's two years older than me, though - which means she might think I'm of lower status. You can never be too cautious.

.:*:.

ELISE

"What's your name?"

I turn to look at the girl next to me, who has jet black hair and green eyes. Jacintha Fayre - a Four from Bourvardia, I remember. She stares at me with her piercing gaze and seems to be evaluating me or something. I know I should be wary.

"Elise Rohan," I tell her, then turn and follow my maids into my assigned dressing room, not giving room for more conversation. Rude, I know - but I don't know how I'll handle conversations with the Selected, now that the game's officially started. Things might be awkward. They might get a lot messier than they already are.

I don't want that. I would never want that.

So for now, Elise Rohan is the quiet girl.

.:*:.

PRINCESS SERAPHINA

We're allowed to walk through the dressing rooms and check on the Selected. It was originally planned for both me and Anna to do it, but she told our parents that she had other plans.

When asked what kind of plans she had, she replied,

"I'm planning on being sick."

Then she turned and walked the opposite way. Everyone was too stunned to follow her.

Which is why I'm alone right now, peeking around the corner that I've rounded so many times as a kid, but it all seems so new and unfamiliar now that Alex's Selection has started. I don't recall ever being this nervous before. It scares me, to be honest.

And without Anna? Complete nightmare.

I suddenly wish I'd told Anna about our parents' plans before they told her. This is something that happens incredibly often in royal families, and it's common to be flown away to a different country - and Anna knows that better than anyone else. If this happened only a few months ago, she would've accepted her fate with few complaints. But now, things are different.

She's different.

I'm different.

Everything is untouched, foreign, and I feel like I'm on the verge of tumbling into an unknown universe altogether. Things I never saw make me feel nostalgic, wistful, longing for the past to come back and envelop me in its warm, blissful arms. Things I've been living around for years make me feel uninvited, unwanted. I hate this feeling of knowing what will happen next. They say it's usually the opposite - but when I was a young princess, living every girl's dream in a beautiful palace, trying to figure out what the next adventure would be, I was happy. Now, I know with absolute certainty what will happen. Anna will be sent away, Alex will pick his girl, Logan will probably be sent off to do some extremely important stuff in some extremely important country, him being the "responsible one" and all, and I will be left all alone, not knowing what to do or what to accomplish in my life.

I guess this is why I've always felt a special bond with Seb. I think we both knew, somewhere in our hearts, that one day we will find that we only have each other to hold on to.

But at least I still have Seb, right? I should be grateful that one sibling will still be here for me, to save be from this feeling of being lonely when I'm not alone.

I don't know. I both know and don't know what will happen in the Selection next, and how it will affect me and my family. We just need to hope he chooses a good bride - if he fails to, the entire country will suffer. And Seb, our parents, and I will be the ones who suffer most.

Ugh, I can't just stand here without doing anything.

I need to get out there and start making friends.

The Royal Family's image must not be corrupted. We must be friendly, courteous, warm, and polite at all times.

I guess my purpose of life is to keep the family image?

I close my eyes, inhale as much oxygen as I can, and walk around the corner to the hall, now bustling with life.

I never let the tears escape my eyes.

It's my duty, they say. It's my fate.

Maybe they're right. Maybe I have no use except for what I do.

.:*:.