"No, no, no!" Abraham hissed as he shoved Noah into the dense bushes. "Shut up and hide."

"Hey…!" Noah scrambled through the thick undergrowth. He picked out bits of twig from his pale brown hair, an annoyed expression on his face. "My cloak almost tore off, you know?"

"Now what?" Abraham shrugged off his complaint and clenched his quarterstaff, looking around cautiously. It looked like that they would be safe for the meantime.

"I thought they got caught… Hmm."

"—Ah! Who… Yue!" Noah nearly jumped straight up from their hiding spot. "It's just you."

"Did you finish, uh, the scouting?" Abraham tried to say as calmly as he could, despite the fact that he had been scared out of his wits. He tried to shake off the feeling that there was electricity running down his spine. "Uh… How was it out there? In a percentage, what do you think are our chances of surviving the next ten minutes?"

The girl that had dropped into their conversation by jumping down from the tree branch above them looked skeptical. She was a fairly smaller than Abraham, and only just under Noah, in terms of height. Her pale face was framed with black, jaw-length, bob cut hair. Deep blue eyes stared at both boys intently, and, almost amusingly.

"Maybe fifty percent… They recently caught another one?" Qui Yue asked, ignoring their state of surprise entirely. "The announcement was a fair little while ago, about three minutes before, right?"

"Yeah," Noah gave a thumbs up and a weak smile. "There are already nine eliminated completely. But, you know, I actually think we're doing pretty good. That is, for first-timers, anyways. Don't you think?"

Abraham nodded in recognition. It was a dark outside, and they hadn't heard any signs of their Housemate until she had spoken up. He drew his cloak around his shoulders more tightly. It tended to get considerably colder at night, no matter what the season here, was what he had told him. The advice was worth listening to, as Abraham felt shivers as soon as they had went out to their base. Of course, being in a cold forest didn't help either.

"But…" Noah looked crestfallen. "Aleska and Naomi… They're…"

"Eliminated." Abraham finished grimly. They really were in a bad situation right now. A bunch of beginners doing this wasn't going to do much against them, first-timers or not.

"Aleska?" Qui Yue crouched down to quietly talk with them, forming a small triangle. "Her too? I didn't know… I wasn't paying attention to that - when they announced it."

"She distracted them with Naomi," Abraham reached behind himself and habitually took a firm hold on his tail of dark hair. He wasn't sure why, but the action helped him concentrate, and he often found himself doing it whenever he needed to think clearly. "They really are monsters. I thought they were only in their second year."

"I know. Second Years… And I thought they were doing this without magic-ish stuff," Noah complained, keeping his voice down. "I heard that Seka caught their Captain though, so how are they doing this? Lucien said that their Captain would probably be that Sixth Year, since she has one of the best skill capabilities."

That was what Lucien, the Head Student of their House had told them. 'That Sixth Year, Artelia, she's probably the Captain for her House. It's most likely, since she has one of the best skills for Survivor. To be honest, it really could be any one of them. They're all like monsters, really. But, that's only if you believe in monsters, though… They're too strong for their own good, I think. Be careful. Try not to get captured too early.'

"But didn't Theodore get taken out too?" Abraham asked, contently stroking his tail of hair, already knowing the answer.

"Oh? Yeah, he did," Noah widened his emerald green eyes. "Why?"

"It's just really satisfying," he smiled, voice remaining dead serious. "I mean, really, really satisfying."

"Is it really?"

"Really."

"Back on topic, please?" Qui Yue requested politely, tapping Noah's shoulder just as he was about to reply. He nodded right away. The simple offer sounded like an order from a military general. Strict, scary, brisk.

Abraham fell soundless and played with the ends of his hair absentmindedly. Qui Yue put a hand on her chin thoughtfully. The person that they were listening for was already caught, the announcement had been clearly delivered. They all heard it. So why was it that everyone was still getting eliminated at such a steady pace?

"Maybe it's actually really simple and we're just overthinking it? It always happens in the stories," Noah wrote the girl's name on the dirt with a small stick, followed by writing an equal sign, and the word 'Captain' on the other end. "What if Artelia isn't the captain?" He made a quick slash through the equal sign.

This makes no sense. Abraham was ready to shred the bushes that were in front of him with his bare hands. If it really is simple… If she wasn't their Captain. Only Captains are allowed to use those fancy skill-things. So that means that someone else is the Captain? One of the Second Years? Or…! Maybe…?!

"You're right, Noah. Someone else is the Captain," Qui Yue had beaten Abraham to the chase. "That's one of the only possible explanations. But then… Who is it? All of the eliminations looked like… It was that girl."

A spark went off in Abraham's head. His red-brown eyes shot forward.

"Maybe… We're stupid," Abraham smacked his forehead, muttering. "What if… They staged all of the captures with their fake 'Captain' along with the real one, together. When the fake was caught…"

"The real one started moving on their own," Qui Yue's eyes widened in understanding. "That makes a lot of sense. It could have been really easy, too. Since the fake would be receiving all of the attention… They could have just hid in the shadows, or something."

"But who is it then?" Abraham tugged his tail of hair gently, biting his lip. "There's three of them left. So… the only thing left is…"

"We just have to get through with this. We should go find the our alliance right now. Well, what's left of it," Qui Yue drew to her full height with a tiny sigh. "Our chances of survival have just dropped to about four percent. Maybe three. Two, if we're lucky."

"The real game starts now, then. By the way, I totally told you that I could solve problems. You know, with figuring out stuff like the 'Captain'," Noah straightened out with a sly sideways grin, withdrawing several throwing daggers from underneath his cloak. The boy looked at the polearm that his female companion had with her. "Uhh… Uhm…"

"Qui Yue, did you always have that spear?" Abraham pointed weakly at the long shaft while heavily getting up with his quarterstaff as if it was a large cane. "I could have sworn…"

"I don't know if I should be scared, or…" Noah held the knives in his right hand next to his heart, facing downwards. "How'd you do that?"

The girl gave a small smile before turning her back to them, the spear blade of her naginata pointing to the ground. "Who knows?"

A/N: This is the prologue of the re-write of the story. Please enjoy!