Author Note: Time to get the ball rolling. This chapter's probably a little longer than most of them will be.
When Karkat's dad handed him the envelope, he couldn't believe his eyes. There was absolutely no way Sburb Academy would send him a letter. Maybe it came to the wrong house, or was just a letter to laugh at his face. But it had his name on the outside, so he opened it.
The letter inside briefly stated that he won the country wide raffle and was invited to attend Sburb in the fall. It prompted him to call the school and tell them as soon as possible, which wouldn't be a problem for Karkat. His public school district was one of the poorest ones in the state, and Sburb was touted as the best school in the country. It was an easy choice to make.
But that didn't mean he wasn't a little bitter about it. He had been looking forward to going to high school with the same friends he had since elementary school, but by going to Sburb he would leave them all behind. But if going to this school would give him a chance at a future, it would be worth it.
He called in and told the administration yes, albeit in a slightly angry tone, and started getting ready to attend this new school. The person he spoke to over the phone told him that since he won the lottery, he would be given the title Super High School Level Good Luck.
Good luck was a pretty decent thing to have, but Karkat didn't put a lot of stock in it. This was, after all, the first stroke of good luck in his entire life, or so he'd say.
He knew, as the lottery winner, the other students would probably have an edge over him. After all, they were chosen for the school talents more apparent than simple good luck. Karkat actually did a little research on his classmates, though he only could find limited information about most of them. One or two didn't have any information about them at all.
He learned that Jade Harley discovered a new molecule and Terezi Pyrope could have skipped high school and gone straight to college, but couldn't find anything about Gamzee Makara other than his name. The one familiar name on the list was someone he hadn't seen in years; so long that they probably forgot him. Overall, they looked like an intimidating bunch.
He already hated them.
Time passed, and the weather grew colder once again. Freshmen had to report to school a whole week before the other students, so Karkat found himself standing in front of the gate and ogling at the sheer craftsmanship of the school. The building towered over him, much more regal and majestic than any school he had seen before.
Karkat gulped once before pushing the gate open. He had to be in the gym by eight for opening ceremonies, and if he didn't get going he would be late. As he entered the main building he failed to notice a shadow lurking by the door. It leapt after him, taking refuge in shadows every few feet.
As Karkat looked around the entrance hall with wonder, the shadow reached him from behind. He was about to curse confusing building layouts when the shadow struck. It knocked Karkat in the back of the head with something blunt, and everything went black.
When he came to, he was no longer in the entrance hall. In fact, he didn't know where he was at all. Somebody had sat him at a desk in what appeared to be a standard classroom. The only aspect that seemed out of place were large steel plates covering up all the windows.
As soon as his head was clear, he stood up abruptly. He didn't feel dizzy, so there probably wasn't any permanent brain damage. If he ever got his hands on whoever hit him though.
"When I find that shit-stain." Karkat muttered under his breath. "Gonna beat the shit out of 'im" He gave the steel panels a long look, briefly wondering why they were there. After weaving his way away from the desk, he tried to pry a panel from the window. Even with his full strength, it wouldn't budge.
When he looked back at the front of the room, he realized what time it was. A small clock sat over the board in the front, and it read exactly eight o-clock. He was already late for school, and it hadn't even started yet. Karkat shoved a desk to the side to get to the door.
It led out into a hallway, one with nothing terribly peculiar about it. All of the cameras on the ceiling didn't surprise him; this was a fancy private school after all. He stumbled down the hallway, searching for the gym despite not even knowing for sure if he was still in the school. But he didn't think he'd been out for long, and it would take a while to move him somewhere. Anyway, whoever moved him would risk him waking up if they tried to move him very far.
It turned out he was right, and after only a little trial and error he found the gym. It was a large room with a stage in the front. A podium sat up on the stage, waiting for the proceedings to start.
Karkat truly was late, and the rest of the students in his class had already gathered.
The teenagers stood scattered around the room, mostly ignoring each other's presence. A handful glanced over at Karkat when he entered, though only one spoke up.
"Late on the first day." The girl with the cane and red glasses giggled. "Not off to a good start." She brandished her cane in Karkat's direction, and he bristled with anger.
"Shut up!" He snapped back. "I would've been on time if it wasn't for the asshole that attacked me!"
"They attacked you too?" A young boy with rectangular glasses and a slime ghost t-shirt asked, moving to stand between Karkat and cane girl.
"I thought we already established that." Another girl drawled. She stood taller than the other girl and wore only the color blue. "Everybody was attacked in the entrance hall and dumped into one of the classrooms."
"But maybe his story is different." Rectangle glasses rebutted, sounding wounded by blue girls opposition.
"I highly doubt it." A fashionably dressed teen interrupted their argument. "What are the odds that only one of our stories would be different?"
"1 out of 16, to be precise." A guy with a nasally voice, who reminded Karkat of a bumblebee, interjected, smirking at the rest of the group.
"Ha ha very funny." Rectangle glasses rolled his eyes, and Karkat realized that even though he looked these people up online, he had no idea which name went with which person. But he couldn't ask them to introduce themselves; they would think he was a failure. Another member off the group seemed to pick up on his distress.
"Hey, do you guys think we should re-introduce ourselves to him?" A girl with round glasses and buckteeth asked, smiling around at the others.
"I guess we probably should." Rectangle glasses shrugged. Blue girl scoffed, but didn't say anything. Since rectangle glasses had been so helpful, Karkat decided to talk to him first. He moved around the room, introducing himself to all the other students.
"I'm John Egbert," he said. "Nice to meet you." Other than John's rectangle glasses, there wasn't much defining about him. He had short hair and teeth that could probably use a couple years of braces, along with a wind symbol on his T-shirt. He shook Karkat's hand vigorously, much more enthusiastically than Karkat was used to. He withdrew hastily, uncomfortable with the personal contact.
"Rose Lalonde, pleasure." The blonde teen favored a gothic style, and she looked at Karkat as if saying if he tried to shake her hand like John did, she would kill him. He glared right back, introducing himself with the appropriate level of scorn.
"The name's Dave." Clearly this kid thought he was incredibly cool. With his arms crossed over his chest and sunglasses obstructing his eyes, everything about this boy screamed aloof. Karkat only dreamed about having that much cool. He also dreamed about punching that much cool's lights out.
"I'm Jade Harley and it's really nice to meet you!" Karkat recoiled away as Jade hugged him. She was surprisingly strong despite her slender frame; he was barely able to pull away. Her glasses stood out as perfect circles, needlessly large upon her face.
"I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Aradia. It's been a long time so you've probably forgotten." Aradia shifted her gaze away, and Karkat pondered her for a moment. She didn't seem particularly distinct, but the fedora on her head struck a chord. They'd met before, though it had been many years since then. Aradia spent some time in late elementary school traveling around and trying to recruit other children to archeology. One of her stops was at Karkat's school, and he nearly ditched school to join her hunt. But it didn't work out, and she moved on. Figuring this wasn't the right place to bring it up; he told her they could talk about it later.
"I-It's nice to meet you, my name's Tavros Nitram." As the smallest member of the group, Tavros shrank under Karkat's glare. For someone so timid, a side-swept Mohawk was a bold hairstyle to go with. Tavros kept looking around the room nervously, taking extra moments to stare at blue girl.
"I'm Sollux Captor, hacker extraordinaire." The gangly teen waggled his eyebrows smugly at Karkat as if he expected him to be impressed. He wore odd multi-colored glasses that reminded Karkat of old 3-d movies. Karkat flicked him off.
"My name's Nepeta Leijon, but you can call me Nep." Nepeta smiled brightly up at Karkat, but he was unaffected by her cuteness. He also ignored her fake cat ears, deciding in that moment that he would never call her Nep.
"I am Kanaya Maryam, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance." Kanaya wore some fashion style Karkat had never seen before, though that wasn't saying much. Her short haircut also matched the current styles, and looked oddly similar to Karkat's favorite cut. He didn't mention it, but instead pretended it didn't exist.
"The real question is, who are you?" Cane girl flashed shark like teeth in Karkat's direction, meeting his angry stare. He promptly told her it was none of her fucking business, to which she replied, "Fair enough. My name's Terezi Pyrope, junior attorney at law." Karkat almost told her to fuck off, but restrained himself.
"I'm Vriska Serket, not an attorney at law." Blue girl, now Vriska, crossed her arms over her chest as if daring Karkat to argue. Her ripped blue jeans and t-shirt let off an overall laid back look, along with a little bit of gangster attitude. She glared with almost as much anger as him, barely below his level of scorn.
"I go by Equius Zahhak, and I look forward to forming a Strong bond with you." Easily the largest member of the freshmen class, Equius towered over Karkat. The muscles in his arms were nearly the size of Karkat's head, and a few beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Strangely, he said the word 'strong' as the loudest word in the sentence. Karkat actually jumped a bit, startled by the odd inflection.
"Hey bro, the name's Gamzee Makara." His face was painted a shade of off white, with red paint covering his nose. Each word was spoken at a different volume, giving his speech an almost surreal quality. He reminded Karkat of the stoners who lived down the street from him, though he decided to refrain judgment for the time being.
"I am Eridan Ampora, it's good to meet you." Eridan inexplicably reminded Karkat of Harry Potter; he didn't have the glasses but he did have one stripe of purple hair in the shape of a lightning bolt. His hands twitched every once in a while, as if reaching for something that wasn't there.
"My name is Feferi Peixes, and I'm so excited to meet you!" Feferi shook Karkat's hand enthusiastically, cutting of all blood flow. Her smile fit her face as if was meant to be there and it was rather contagious. Karkat fought the urge to smile back, managing a grimace.
Karkat looked around at all the people he just met, trying desperately to commit all their names and faces to memory. The group broke off into side conversations after introducing themselves, and Karkat was merely an observer in these encounters. He skirted around the edge of the group, unsure of what they actually were supposed to do. He didn't have to wait long.
Something in the front of the gym leapt up onto a podium, drawing the attention of all the teens present. A small bear balanced on the small wooden space, glancing over the group. One side of the bear was black, while the other side was completely white. It reminded Karkat of a chessboard, though he was more concerned about how a fake bear could be moving.
"Is that a stuffed animal?" Nepeta stepped towards the stage with one hand out reached. When the bear shook its head, she quickly retreated. "Eep!"
"I am a bear!" It insisted. "Actually, I'm Monokuma, the headmaster of this school."
"Did that bear just talk?" John ogled at Monokuma, his jaw hanging open. A few others mirrored the pose, unable to believe their eyes.
"I've never seen a talking bear before." Tavros mused out loud.
"It's probably mechanical." Equius's eyes gleamed as he pulled a wrench out from nowhere. "I could dismantle it, if you want."
"Maybe it's some kind of toy." Jade tilted her head, raising her hand to her chin in a thinkers pose.
"Ahem." Monokuma cleared his throat. "There will be no dismantling; violence against the headmaster is against the rules, and I am not a toy! Please quiet down."
"Don't take apart the cute bear!" Nepeta scolded Equius, stalking over to where he stood. "You should leave it alone."
"Don't you want to know how it works?" Equius flourished his wrench again, and Nepeta snatched it from his grasp.
"No!" She put her hands on her hips, keeping the wrench away from him.
"I have to agree with the mechanic. I wonder what makes it tick." Sollux pushed his glasses up his nose, edging towards the stage.
"Ahem." Monokuma coughed a little louder this time. "Please be quiet."
"Oh, he wants to speak, how cute." Terezi chortled, smacking her cane against the ground.
"Please…" Monokuma tried again, falling silent after only one word.
"I think he gave up." Dave said with a completely straight face.
A moment of silence passed.
"Enough! Listen up kids!" Monokuma waved his arms around, demanding attention and control. "It's time for the opening ceremony. You are all the beacons of hope spread across our great land. In order to preserve that hope, you will all live here permanently in a communal lifestyle."
"What?" Karkat couldn't believe his ears. A permanent communal lifestyle? What the fuck was that supposed to mean?
"You will spend the rest of your lives in this academy." Monokuma crossed his arms, nodding at the students.
"There's no way." Feferi interjected, her eyes wide with surprise. "We can't stay here for life!"
"You can and you will." Monokuma wiggled around in a cute dance. "That is, unless you graduate."
"Which is in four years, and certainly not indefinitely." Terezi quipped, hiding her confusion.
"High school is only four years?" Kanaya could not cover up her confusion, being unfamiliar with the American school system.
"Graduation works differently at this school. In order to graduate you must break the order, and the only way to do that is to murder another student. Upupupu" Monokuma laughed gleefully.
"This is a fucking joke!" Karkat swore loudly, shaking one fist at the bear. "You can't keep us here! And you can't force us to kill each other!"
The bear's eyes glinted in the light. "You will find that I can."
"This is bullshit, I'm leaving." Eridan spun around, heading for the door.
"You can try, but there's no way out. The only way is to graduate." Monokuma spun around in a circle, chuckling again.
"We're not murderers." Jade shook her head. "And we never will be!"
"I wouldn't be so sure." Monokuma's eyes caught the light eerily.
A chill ran down Karkat's spine as he looked around at the other students. Could he bring himself to kill one of them? He didn't think so. But could one of them kill him? He didn't believe so at first, but now he wasn't sure. Each one seemed like a threat, gazing around as if trying to decide who to kill first.
"Upupupu what delicious despair." Monokuma hugged his own body. "The feeling as it seeps into your soul, as it permeates your hope filled lives. The excitement it brings."
"B-but why?" Tavros stuttered. "Why are you doing this?"
"It must be a prank." John asserted, a little color coming back to his face. "There's no way this is happening."
"A prank?" Monokuma swept his arms out. "I promise you this is no prank. This is your home now, you whole world. There is no prank, and no escape. The only way out is to kill."
"This is motherfucking crazy." Gamzee droned, nearly falling over with the effort to speak.
Monokuma ignored him. "To welcome you to the academy, I will be giving you these wonderful presents." A stack of what seemed to be plastic cards appeared in his hands. "These are student identification cards, otherwise known as an electronic ID card. They list your name, contain maps of the school, have a list of all the school rules, and are completely indestructible. Make sure you read the school rules; there are severe punishments for all rule breakers." None of the kids had anything to cut in with, so the bear kept talking. "With that, the opening ceremony is finished. Enjoy your school life of mutual killing."
With that ominous last message, Monokuma left the cards on the stage and vanished from sight. A tense silence dominated the room, weighing down on the students. Karkat grabbed his card from the pile, pocketing it for later use.
"So what now?" Rose asked hesitatingly. It took a moment for anybody to reply.
"We should look for a way out." Dave replied, his expression unchanged despite the emotional upheaval he must have been feeling. "There has to be a way out."
"Perhaps." Kanaya looked sick to her stomach. "The bear seemed pretty serious to me."
"About the killing thing too?" Tavros looked even sicker than Kanaya did. "I-I would never."
"Maybe you wouldn't, but how do we know nobody will." Vriska crossed her arms, once again oozing irritation. Her sentiment was one Karkat shared, and his whole body felt cold at her words. He just met most of these people; how could he trust them not to kill him? The answer; he couldn't. Despair set into his bones, a darker despair than he ever felt in his short life.
He was supposed to have Super High School Level Good Luck, but this was more like Super High School Level Bad Luck instead.
End Note: Thanks for reading, if you want to make any comments or guesses, feel free to leave a review.