Chapter 1 - Headmaster of Despair

"What the..."

"Is this a joke?"

"Why is that teddy bear talking?"

"It's some kind of illusion, right?"

"Hey don't look at me, I didn't do this!"

"Maybe it's remote controlled?"

"How else would a plushy be talking?"

The students were all in disarray, thrown off by the strange sight in front of them.

On top of the podium was a small bear, split in the middle between white and pitch black. The white half had a small dark eye and a bear's nose, giving it a friendly and inviting look. The other half, however, had a deformed eye, a curved lightning bolt in blood red, and a twisted grin that felt inexplicably threatening. The duality between cuddly and blood-thirsty was enough to confuse and frighten the fifteen pupils inside that gymnasium, but not nearly as much as the fact it could speak.

"Hey watch your tone, young lady! I'm no stuffed toy, I'm a bear, as real the day I was born!" Its voice sounded almost cartoonish, but at the same time scratchy and filled with contempt. "Besides, is that any way of treating the Headmaster of this fine academy?"

Their unbelieving murmur was replaced by an unbelieving silence. Not only were they talking to a teddy bear, the creature had just claimed to be the headmaster of the school. It was all just so bizarre, so absurd, there was no way any of them could process what was happening.

Sun burst out laughing, inadvertently becoming the target of everyone else's attention.

"This is great! I've seen some crazy pranks before, but this one really takes the cake." He explained, shrugging his shoulders in a carefree manner.

"You think this is a joke, do you? Then test me, and see what happens!"

"Test you? Like what? Like... touch you?" His laughter died out, and he became serious. Apparently, there was still some common sense in him, although the same could not be said for everyone.

"Oh, you're such a big baby." Nora walked ahead of the others, ignoring those who tried to dissuade her from it, and jumped on top of the stage, proceeding to touch the mascot with one finger. "Come on, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Careful now, you don't wanna poke the bear too much. It could bite." The animal spoke slowly, putting the threat underneath the words more than actually in them. The blacksmith didn't listen.

"It's just a toy, look!" She picked up the accursed thing, and began playfully throwing it in the air. Jaune subconsciously held his breath, expecting something drastic to happen, but nothing did. The bear fell on the girl's hands like a ragdoll.

Beep.

She threw it again, giggling amusedly at her new plaything.

Beep.

And once again it fell down harmlessly.

Beep.

The bear had stopped speaking since being picked up, but was instead emitting a strange sound.

Beep.

"GET RID OF THAT THING!" Blake shouted at the top of her lungs, running and pushing students to get to the redheaded girl.

"Huh?" Nora looked at the Faunus with a confused expression, the plushy limp in her hands.

Beep.

"IT'S A BOMB!"

The Ultimate Blacksmith took a second to register the words that had just been yelled at her. Then it hit, and she threw the animal as far as she could, aimed at the nearby bleachers, where it would hopefully be far enough away from everyone.

Before it reached its target, the bear exploded in a fiery rage, making the ground shake from the aftershock. Jaune's ears were ringing, his eyes cloudy from the glow of the explosion, and his stomach bubbling with nausea.

"Still think it's a prank?"

Nora yelped loudly, jumping at the sound coming from behind her. Stepping off the way, she revealed that standing atop the podium was a bear perfectly similar to the one that had just blown up in front of them.

"I ought to punish you for that, but I'll let it slide just this once." He wasn't pleased in the slightest.

"H... How is it still alive?"

"We just saw it..."

"This is impossible..."

Weiss moved to the forefront of the crowd, and addressed the beast directly.

"What do you want from us? You must've brought us here for a reason." She was adamant, a perfect image of composure. The boy wondered how much of it was actually true.

"Don't get ahead of yourself there, princess. First things first, my name is Monokuma, and as the Headmaster it is my pleasure to welcome you to this fine academy. I hope you like the premises, because you will be staying here forever."

What? Did he just say forever? His gut feeling had been correct, they were prisoners inside the school. It all added up, plated windows, a reinforced door, all of them waking up without a clue on how they had gotten there, it was a kidnapping, plain and simple. Yet there was no confetti or celebrations for him being right. Instead he was filled with a dread the scale of which he had never experienced. And deep down he knew the worst was yet to come.

"You're all awfully quiet, aren't you? Oh, I'm sorry, did the brochure failed to mention? You can't leave the school once you enter." Monokuma was clearly having fun, but he was the only one in the room with high spirits.

"This can't be serious!"

"I can't stay here forever, what about my family?"

"Me too, they're waiting to hear from me!"

The bear chuckled, in that unsettling way only he knew how to. "Upupupupu. Why would ever want to leave? This is such a nice place, with plenty of food, water, and breathable air."

"Screw that, I want to get out now!" Emerald's voice raised above the others. She didn't sound scared, but rather angry.

"Oh? You want out that much? Well there is one way..."

"Tell me, what do I have to do?"

"It's easy. All you have to do is kill someone."

The olive-skinned girl staggered back, caught unaware by the beast's words. Everyone in the room was dead quiet, fearful of what revelations might come next.

"What's the matter, didn't you want to go home? Then, kiddo, you'd better get chopping."

"Screw you, we would never do that!" Jaune was surprised to hear his own voice resonate through the high walls, a shout of defiance that was very unlike him. But deep inside he was sure, he knew that he was surrounded by remarkable people that would never sink so low as to fall prey of such absurd threats.

"Then you will stay inside this school forever, simple as that."

No one felt like talking anymore. They just wanted to wake up from that nightmarish place.

"Aaaanyway, I prepared some handy guides to help in your stay here. I believe one of you has them..."

Ren grabbed one of the tablets and raised it inquisitively, asking if that was what he meant.

"That's exactly it, do you mind giving everyone theirs?" The chef did as he was told. "Those sexy pieces of hardware are called Scrolls. Get it, because you have to... ah you kids have no sense of humor."

"Ahem. They will serve as your identification. They have no internet so don't get any ideas, you perverts! What they do have is a map of the premises, and the rules for behaving inside the academy. I suggest you give those a look right now."

Jaune stared down at the tablet in his hands, his name written in black marker at the bottom. He pressed the power button, and the screen lit up, revealing his name yet again, but this time accompanied by a picture of his face. After a small loading time, the menu opened and he selected the tab called school regulations.

Rule n°1 - Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is the destruction of any doors, monitors, or security cameras.

Rule n°2 - "Nighttime" is from 11pm to 8am. During this time, water will be cut off in your rooms, and certain areas automatically locked.

Rule n°3 - Sleeping outside the dormitories will be considered as sleeping in class, and will be punished accordingly.

Rule n°4 - Anyone who commits murder will graduate, provided their deeds are not discovered by their classmates.

Rule n°5 - Killing more than two other students is expressly forbidden.

Rule n°6 - Additional rules may be added if the headmaster so wills it.

The boy read them once, twice, three times, before any of it actually registered in his brain. "Security cameras"? "Sleeping in class"? "Killing more than two other students"? It was all just so jarring, so... inconceivable.

"When in here it says 'punished', what does that mean?" Ruby was the first to speak, a testament to her quick eyes and mind.

Monokuma didn't dance around the issue. "Executed."

There was a collective gasp, as if they had all been punched on the chest and deprived of all breath. It would've almost been comical, how coordinated it sounded, but neither one of the students was in the state of mind to laugh. Nevertheless, someone in the room was having the time of his life.

"Upupupupu, you should all see your faces. The fear, the doubt, the despair. What's the matter? Aren't you Ultimates, the chosen elite of the Kingdom of Vale?"

Jaune glanced at the side, and saw Pyrrha looking worriedly at him. She knew what he was thinking - that he was just a weakling compared to them; that if they were doubtful, he would be much worse. He found it unbelievable that amidst all that darkness, she had taken the time to think of him, of useless, average Jaune.

"Why... Why are you doing this to us?" Penny was sobbing, her voice nothing more than a feeble plead for answers.

"Why? Who cares about that! Reasons are for stuck-up bears, and in the safari, I was known as the most rebel of all the bears! Maybe I'm doing this for fun, maybe it's to prove a point, who cares?"

"'Who cares'? It's our lives you're talking about!" Yang roared, cool and easy-going temper thrown to the wind. She stomped through the rubbery floor, pushing away the classmates that were in the way.

"Sis, stop! He could kill you!"

"Listen to your sister, miss Xiao Long. If you attack me, I'll have to punish you for breaking the rules." The mascot extended his claws for emphasis.

The Ultimate Boxer didn't care, she kept moving closer to the headmaster. When she was just next to the podium, she clenched her fist and threw her arm back to build momentum. Yet at the last moment, her attack was interrupted by a hand wrapped around her wrist.

"Calm down, or you'll only make things worse." Blake's voice was strangely calm and detached. The blonde turned around, practically growling at her, but made no more attempts at violence.

"Whew, that was really close, I didn't want to have to do anything drastic." Monokuma pretended to wipe the sweat off his furry brow, and then looked down at his empty wrist. "Oh, would you look at the time! This bear's got place to be, smell ya later."

After his nearly incomprehensible babble, the mascot jumped backwards, falling behind the podium. Jaune quickly ran up to it, hoping to see where the monochrome plushy was off to, but to his surprise he found nothing behind it but the floorboards of the stage.

"He vanished?"

"Probably a trap door." He gave Emerald an inquisitive look, to which she replied by pointing at herself. "Ultimate Magician, remember? I know a trick when I see it."

DING DONG DING DONG

The loud noise coming from the speakers on the back of the stage interrupted their banter.

"This is a School Announcement. It's 11 PM. Nighttime is now in effect. The cafeteria doors will be closing soon, so make sure you're not inside. Have a good night!"

The whole class traded glances, unsure of what to do. They were scared and exhausted after what had seemed like the longest day of their lives. It would take time to process all that information, to come to terms with the living-nightmare they were in, and a good night's sleep was sounding increasingly like a wonderful idea.

"So... this thing mentions rooms? Anyone know where they are?" Sun gestured at the scroll, illustrating his confusion.

"Pretty sure I saw them on the other side of the school. Also, there's a map function, dummy." Velvet pointed at the button in the tablet that opened the map of the school.

Nevertheless, they all ended up following Velvet through the hall, and eventually reached the strangely red and L-shaped corridor where the rooms were. There were sixteen doors, each with a name plaque, bar the last one which seemed to be empty. Silently, they checked the names for each of their respective rooms.

Jaune's was the third on the right side, a dark red door with a button next to it, which he assumed was the doorbell, and a small scanner that acted as the lock. He glanced to the side and saw Pyrrha in front of the very next door, moving her scroll in front of the scanner. It beeped softly, and the door made a clanking noise, announcing it was unlocked. She gave him a smile before going in, and he repeated the same process she had just performed.

Walking inside, he took in the room that he had been assigned to. The first thing he noticed was the jarring décor. The floor was a tiled dark blue, yet the walls were pink and the furniture brown, plus the silver of the bolted plate that was supposed to be a window, a strange choice of colors that really didn't seem to match. There was a neatly made bed, which was almost staring at him invitingly, a long bedside table with a small notepad on top of it, a closet for his clothes, and round table with a chair next to it. Behind him was a small bathroom, but when he went in and tried to use the sink nothing happened.

Right, the water is cut off during nighttime.

Feeling an overwhelming weariness fall upon his shoulders, the boy crashed on the bed without even removing his clothes. He just wanted that day to end.

DING DONG DING DONG

Jaune was staring blankly at the ceiling when he heard the announcement sound. He hadn't managed to sleep much, his brain was still swirling and buzzing with so many doubts, making him feel just as tired as when he had lied down. He turned to the source of the noise, the corner of the room near the ceiling, and saw an image of Monokuma appear on a small screen, with a big security camera right next to it. He wondered how he had missed those two things when he first came in, but in all fairness his mind hadn't been in the right place.

"Gooood morning, everyone! It is now 8 am. Time to get up and face another day."

"Strangely upbeat for someone who wants us to kill each other." He sighed as he got up from the bed, and went to check the closet.

Despite not expecting to find anything there, he opened it to find his clothes properly folded and hanged. He didn't remember doing that, but he couldn't have done it, could he? It was the first time he had ever been inside that school, so why were his clothes in there?

It was just one more on the pile of many questions he had, so he tried his best to shrug it off and not think about it. Picking up a clean change of underwear and a t-shirt, he moved to the bathroom and proceeded to strip naked. He didn't want the camera to film him removing his clothes, it felt too intrusive.

The water in the shower was warm and soothing, one of the very little things that felt right since he had woken up in that odd classroom. Inside the small cubicle, with the hot stream running through his whole body, he didn't feel endangered, almost like the fake-glass walls shielded him from the horrors of the outside.

With muscles relaxed and head clearer, the realization of how long it had been since his last meal hit him with full force, by way of a persistent pain in his stomach. He quickly got dressed, and headed out the room, guided only by his hazy memory of the school halls, and his desperate need for food.

Outside his door, he turned right, passing by first Pyrrha's and then Velvet's. He thought about ringing the redhead's doorbell, but reconsidered and kept moving. There was no way she had missed the morning announcement, and besides... he was still just average Jaune. There were certainly better people to see first thing in the morning.

After the red corridor, the wall turned white again, and curved to the left in a small dead end with a door, but he skipped it. Still going forward, he came across two large double doors with a fork and knife sign next to them. Score. He pushed then open, already salivating.

The cafeteria was an ample space, black and white tiled floor under a number of red tables with chairs aligned with them, a tall ceiling, and... those darned iron plates again. The right wall was completely covered, not even an inch visible of what should rightfully be glass peering at the outside. Forcing his eyes off of the dreaded things, he directed his gaze at the wide table at the center of the room. There were already people sitting down, and a surprising large and varied amount of food laying on top of it.

He counted five of them. Yatsuhashi was sitting down at the middle, eating a piece of toast with jam on it, and across from him was Nora, wolfing down an absurd pile of various meats with a strange dedication. Velvet was sitting in front of a plate of assorted fruits, but seemed to be a lot more interested in the conversation she was having with Pyrrha, who was herself chewing on an energy bar. By the looks of things, and the gestures accompanying it, they seemed to be talking about his first encounter with the redhead, and also with the door of the classroom. Finally, sitting by herself, Weiss was quietly nibbling on a red apple, her alert blue eyes measuring everyone in the room.

Those very same eyes turned to Jaune when he tried to approach her, deep with contempt. He swallowed dryly and moved on, and luckily someone else saw him.

"Hey Jaune." He was greeted by the flash of the rabbit faunus' camera. "We saved you a spot!"

He pulled up a chair next to them, and braced for the inevitable.

"So, Pyrrha was just telling me how you two met..."

Jaune, the Ultimate Joke. Hurtful, but it fits.

"Has she told you the part where she apologized 12 times?" It was an exaggeration, but payback was too delicious.

"I didn't... did I?" He almost felt guilty at how confused she looked, but the giggling fit Velvet let out made up for it.

"Anyway, who made all this? It's a lot of food..."

"That would be Ren. He's been working non-stop since we woke up, he's really impressive."

Right on cue, the cook came out from the small door on the back of the room, carrying a platter with strange foods that he couldn't even begin to recognize. He was wearing a pink apron that read "Please do nothing to the cook.", which gave the blond boy a chuckle. Ren would be surely needing it, if the blacksmith kept eating like that. He placed the platter down, and gave the ginger a silent desperate look, before going back.

"You're going to give Ren a stroke if you keep eating like that, Nora." Pyrrha covered her mouth as she giggled.

"Me and big guy over here are having a competition to see who can eat more!"

"We're not competing." Yatsu spoke in a calm tone, unbothered by any of it.

"You only say that 'cause you're losing!" They all laughed, watching the ginger dig once more into her never-ending pile of assorted foods.

The breakfast stretched on, and more students occasionally came in, with varying levels of tardiness. Neo sat down further away, but not as far as Weiss, of course. Ruby grabbed a glass of plain milk, and failed adorably at making small talk. Blake brought her book yet again, and looked content enough with just a cup of tea. Yang entered with a bolstering greeting, already sweating from a morning workout, and joined the blacksmith in eating more than humanly recommended. Coco sat next to Neo, commenting on her jacket while drinking a cup of black coffee. Emerald arrived shortly after that, and she munched on a piece of bread, but took the time to make the pot of sugar vanish, to the delight of some of the girls.

Jaune looked at the group, seeing how strangers, people who had never met each other, found it so easy to be comfortable with one another. They laughed, and talked, like normal teenagers having a good time. They seemed so normal, so... similar to his average self.

"Jaune! Wake up!"

"Huh?" He looked around, trying to understand why he'd been called.

"We're doing a headcount. Okay, I'm seeing twelve, plus Ren in the kitchen… that makes thirteen of us. Who are we missing?" Yang counted with her fingers, making sure her math wasn't off.

"Sun isn't here." Emerald pointed out the absent faunus.

"Yeah, I am." The class turned to the door and saw the monkey blonde boy walk in yawning. He approached the table, and grabbed a banana from the basket of fruit.

"Geez, can you be a little less stereotypical? Okay, so only one left."

"Penny." Jaune traded a glance with Pyrrha, and saw the worried look was also in her eyes. He pushed his chair back, and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked, but his companion answered before he could.

"We'll just go check up on her real quick."

Please, please, please be okay.

Jaune started a short jog as soon as he left the cafeteria door. He knew he was probably overreacting, but the horrifying idea was deep rooted in his mind, and he couldn't afford to overlook it.

"Anyone who commits murder will graduate…"

Penny had been scared ever since coming into the gymnasium, much more so than any other of the students. She had almost refused to speak to anyone else, and none of them knew her talent yet. It was almost like she was fearing for her life even before they'd been told murder was on the menu. And now she was absent, and he didn't want to consider the possibility, but he could think of nothing else.

He pressed the button near the door, and waited along with Pyrrha.

Nothing.

He pressed it again, the anxiety building up again with even greater intensity than in the previous day.

Silence.

He kept pressing it, praying he was wrong. Only a night had passed, it was impossible for someone to have already committed a murder, right?

His heart nearly jumped from his chest when the door opened just slightly, and green eyes peeked through.

"…yes?"

"Oh thank Oum, Penny, you're okay. We were worried about you, you didn't show up for breakfast."

"…I wasn't feeling hungry." Her voiced was tired and helpless, the very same it had been the first time they met.

"You should still come out. It's not healthy to stay locked in there all the time." Pyrrha smiled at the girl, filling those words with confidence. The petite ginger seemed to consider it for a second, and then reluctantly opened the door and walked outside.

They guided her to the cafeteria, and were surprised to find the wide room nearly empty. Despite them being gone for no more than three or four minutes, all their classmates had left except for Nora, who was still sitting by the food, almost as if they had run away from him.

"Where is everyone?"

"They went exploring the school, to look for ways to escape." Nora grunted in between bites.

Penny shyly sat down, and poured herself a cup of water. It could hardly be called a meal, but Jaune was glad they had managed to bring her along, the rest would be taken one step at a time.

"And she stayed because she refuses to stop eating." Ren came in again from the kitchen, taking off his apron now that the breakfast seemed to be over.

"This muscles don't feed themselves! By the way, do you know how to make pancakes?"

"At this rate, you are going to bloat like a pig. How about a healthy vegetable blend instead?" He pointed to a jar of green goo that no one had touched.

"Answer the question, pretty boy."

He sighed. "Of course I can. I can make eight different flavors of pancakes."

"Then we have a lot to talk about." Nora jumped up and grabbed him with her voluptuous arms, pushing him back inside the kitchen, before walking in just behind him.

Left alone with the two only students he didn't know the talent of, Jaune looked around awkwardly, trying to come up with a topic of conversation. By now, he knew Pyrrha wasn't going to throw him an easy ball and start it herself. It was all part of his training.

"Hey, did either of you find a wardrobe filled with your clothes in your room?" They both nodded. "How did it get there? I don't remember putting it there, I had never even been to the rooms before."

"It must be the clothing you packed to come to Beacon, no? After all, we knew we would be staying here. Just not… for so long."

"Packed?" Suddenly, he did remember stuffing most of his clothes into a travel bag. It felt like an entire lifetime ago, back when he was preparing to move to the academy, full of dreams, and not imprisoned inside it. "Makes sense, I guess. It just looked a bit too tidy."

"Maybe the mastermind has a maid." Penny suggested timidly, still drinking her glass of water.

"Could be, the school seems really clean."

Nora returned from the kitchen, wielding a plate with a veritable tower of pancakes drenched in syrup, and sat down. Ren came behind her with a miserable look on his face, and picked a seat far away from the ginger blacksmith.

"Did we interrupt something?" She asked, but received no response, because immediately after she started working on the baked goods.

Their dwellings on the mastermind didn't evolve much further. Little by little, the others started arriving in pairs, which the chef explained had been chosen to prevent anyone from wandering the school alone. Yang brought Ruby in, and started trying to pin her on other people with the pretext of 'breaking her out of her shell'. Blake arrived with an annoyed look, chasing down Emerald for apparently making her reading material disappear. Sun and Velvet came inside soon after, both laughing. Neo and Yatsuhashi were next, sitting down without so much as a word. Finally, Weiss and Coco entered the room, simultaneously more than actually together.

"Everyone here?" Yatsu took the lead, speaking for the first time that day.

"Seems like it. So, what did you guys find out?" Jaune was feeling impatient. If they had found a way out, or any means to make one, he needed to know.

"There's a door for what looks like an infirmary near the gymnasium, but it's locked, and some stairs going up that are barred. Oh and also a giftshop of sorts, but it only has garbage." Coco explained the findings that her team had made, and then gestured for the next pair to speak up.

"The AV Room has computers and a big screen, so I guess we could watch movies or something, but the choices don't look too good. 'Monokuma's Birthing' sounds… pretty lame." Sun yelped when Velvet poked his side, and added. "Oh, and there were a bunch of photography and film supplies. WE also found a weird red door next to it, but it was also locked."

"The trash room has an incinerator, and other trash disposal machines. We didn't find anything else because someone…" Emerald looked at Blake, who was starring daggers at her. "…decided that reading was much more interesting than finding a way out."

"We found a changing room that leads into a sauna, which is awesome! And Monokuma says the Sauna can only be used by either boys or girls at the same time, to avoid… what did he call it?" Yang reported, and Ruby completed with the missing information.

"Improper behavior."

"Wait, you spoke to him?"

"Yeah, he just kinda popped out of the ground when we were checking the place out."

Yatsuhashi went next, since his partner couldn't speak. "There's a laundry room, so we can have clean clothes, and a storage room. It's a mess of boxes, but it seems to contain various supplies, like tracksuits, canned food, and other things like that."

Finally, Ren spoke. "If that's all, then I guess I can mention my findings too. The kitchen has plenty of fresh food, as well as some frozen. It should last us a couple of weeks, so we're not starving anytime soon. And that's counting with some people who eat like bulls."

Nora giggled, petting her belly.

"So, no one found a way to escape?" He was slightly disappointed.

The glanced between each other, and shook their heads in denial. The atmosphere lost its warm and inviting appeal, the students all faced with the prospect that they were forced to live inside that school. It was less than ideal, but at least they were well stocked up on necessary supplies, and had some decent comforts available. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"Then I guess it's time for lunch, huh?"

Ren stared in disbelief at the blacksmith. "Dear Oum, woman, really?"

Jaune laughed, and he wasn't alone. Just like that, the ruckus returned, and conversations sprouted back once more. The Lucky Student looked at his classmates, all doing their best to survive in that inhospitable situation, and felt hopeful. They were strong as a group, and nothing could destroy that, not even his worthlessness, not even the headmaster's threats.

Everything was going to be okay.

TO BE CONTINUED

Students Alive - 15

And now we get to the Free Time Events.

For those who don't know, FTEs are a component of the DR games where the player can choose to spend time with other characters, in order to get to know them better. I wasn't sure how I wanted to proceed with these, so I decided: Why not let you decide?

Poll is now closed.

I really need to write shorter chapters. And for the one person who asked, this story takes a few cues from the game, but isn't exactly like it. That's all I can say without spoiling anything.

As always, thank you for your support, and leave a review if you can. It helps.