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X woke to the sound of utter confusion. A cacophony of voices that were all asking the same question, while all not making any sense at all. Opening his eyes didn't serve much help either. He was simply looking up at a plain white ceiling. Now understanding that he had been laying down, X carefully worked himself up into a sitting position. He let out a low groan as a bout of dizziness hit him. It felt like someone had hit him with a truck. What happened before now?
"Another one's awake!" someone called. "The last guy is awake now!"
Blinking, X looked around him and was shocked to discover he wasn't alone. There around him were 13 other people. Some were sitting like he was -looking no less bewildered-, others were walking around as they tried to piece together where they were. The one who had spoken earlier was already happily getting closer to X. They looked to be a teenaged boy with orange-ish brown hair that stuck every which way at the back of his head.
"Hey there," the boy greeted with a wide grin, offering his hand out to X. "The name's Axl. You need a hand up?"
"Y-yeah. Thanks."
"Not a problem," Axl proclaimed as he held his smile.
Now standing, X had a better understanding of just who was in the room with him. The variation was… a bit overwhelming.
"So that makes 14 of us." one of the strangers remarked. His hair was a dark blue, covered by a fedora that slightly hid his red eyes. "Is that correct?"
"Well, no one else is still conked out on the floor, that's for sure." Axl mused in agreement.
"I agree!" said a girl with bright yellow hair that flew behind her like seraph wings. "I counted five people still asleep when I woke up, and now everyone I can see are awake. That means all of us are awake now."
"Then we should probably start the introductions," suggested a girl with blonde hair that she kept up in a loose bun, and dark blue eyes that illustrated she knew business. "My name is Alia."
"Zero." a guy standing near the wall, sporting long blonde hair he kept in a low ponytail, told them all in a toneless voice.
"You can call me Spider." the guy with the fedora nodded.
"Axl!" Axl piped up, even throwing his arm in the air.
"Cinnamon!" the girl with seraph hair chimed in, inspired by Axl's gusto.
A girl with turquoise hair that looped much like a squirrel's tail gave a small snort before saying, "The name's Marino."
"You can call me Massimo," another guy told them. His body spoke well to his name, being quite bulky and massive in comparison to X's own stature.
"My mother said I was Vile," a boy with a purple motorcycle helmet on said, "So I guess that's what you can call me."
"Oh, be nice to yourself!" a girl with a high voice told him. Her hair was pulled back into two high pigtails, pink accents were printed onto the tips and center of each pigtail. "I'm Pallette. It's very nice to meet all of you, for whatever reason we're meeting."
"My name is Iris," a girl with long brown hair and sparkling green eyes shyly introduced.
"I'm Layer," an equally shy girl also piped up. The bangs of her purple hair hid a good portion of her eyes- it was a wonder if she was able to see at all.
"And I guess you can call me Dynamo." a guy with well groomed silver-blue hair greeted with a wink.
Alia gave a nod. Her eyes scanned the room as she took stock of them all.
"Is that everyone?" she asked.
"Feels like it." Massimo agreed.
"Wait!" Axl proclaimed. He took X's wrist rather quickly before thrusting it into the air, "There's still a guy over here!"
"And a stalker." Zero added, pointing to the corner opposite of him.
Sure enough, there was one last female there. She looked down at the ground, as if embarrassed, before stepping forward into everyone's sight. X felt his chest tighten. This girl immediately felt different from the others. As for how, he really couldn't place. The best he could think was that he had seen her somewhere before, but he was sure no one in this room knew each other before now.
"My name is Aero." the girl said to them. Her voice was clear, for the most part. It could have had the ability to quell the whole room had it sounded off earlier.
Still mystified by who this girl was, X had to remind himself to say his name to the others. It came out as a less sure sounding, "X." but it did the job.
"Just X? Like the letter?" Axl wondered- his voice peppered with a bit of confusion.
"Just X." came the affirmation. After a few moments of hesitation, "I think." was also added.
"That's encouraging." Aero smirked.
X managed to return the gesture with a small smile of his own.
"Now that we're all chummy with each other," Spider spoke up, "What are we doing next?" He then made a point to look at Alia, who had started the impromptu assembly. She seemed a bit surprised that he had turned to her.
"I think we need to investigate this place," Zero said for Alia. "Unless someone here already knows where we are."
Everyone looked at each other. It was soon decided in agreeable murmurs that they had no idea about this place.
"We could split up." Alia suggested. "The boys explore what they can on their own, and the girls will do the same. We'll meet back here when we're done. Is that alright with everyone?"
With no real opposition, the complete strangers did as such. Axl was more than happy to be the boy's leader, even if they weren't going anywhere in particular. Behind him was Vile. X had settled for a place near the middle, just steps behind Dynamo and Spider. Massimo was able to almost match X in stride. Zero pulled up the rear, taking note of the walls, floors, and ceiling. He was looking for something- X figured at best it was a sign of a way out.
"Just so we're clear," Dynamo said, giving a click of his tongue, "I'm not the only one with a gaping hole in my memory, yeah?"
"Nope. I've got nothing either." Spider agreed. "One of the last things I can remember clearly is a bet I made. Hope that went over well."
"What kind of bet?" Axl asked.
Vile snorted. "I'd die laughing if it was the Russian roulette kind."
"Not quite." Spider replied with a snicker of his own. "Though I guess it could get just as sticky if my forgotten friend comes after me."
"How can you joke about that?!" Massimo spat.
"What else do we have going for ourselves at the moment?" Spider shot back. "We only know each other's names- which we're apparently lucky for. A little gallows humor isn't going to kill anyone."
X absently took a hold of his wrist. It was true that it was rather nonchalant considering they didn't even know their situation yet. But if they were the only ones here? There was a possibility they'd have to get used to each other pretty quickly.
The boys continued to make conversation as they took stock of their surroundings. They had found a corridor that led to private dorms, each door having their name set inside a hanging placard. Following the corridor down to a main foyer was the entrance to a cafeteria. It was pretty spacious, and even allowed them access to the attached kitchen. Across the foyer was the entrance to an auditorium. There were no seats- in fact, there wasn't much of anything in the room to truly speak of, so the boys went back toward the dorms. On the opposite end of the dorms corridor, right at the end of said corridor, was a modestly sized entertainment room. It had multiple couches facing a TV hooked up to gaming consoles of various generations. There was even a stereo nestled into a corner with enough room to exercise or dance in.
What caused them to stay the longest were the stairs.
"They're barred." Zero noted first. He folded his arms in thought, giving a small huff of inconvenience.
"So we're stuck on one floor?" Axl asked, looking at the others as if they could offer any different conclusions.
"Not unless we're able to blow it up." Vile retorted. "By the looks of it, it's pretty heavy stuff. It's not going anywhere soon."
Dynamo cocked an eyebrow. "And you would know?"
"You could say I got around."
"Watch who you say that to, kid." Spider retorted, tilting his fedora forward as if it would hide his very obvious smirk.
X blinked at them, then looked back to the stairwell. They were here for a reason. But why?
The answer would soon come to them after they all returned to the main entrance.
"Why'd your search go?" Marino asked the boys.
"Well," Dynamo retorted, "We found the dorms, so when we want to avoid all you girls, we know where to go."
Marino's face immediately went into disgust. "Classy."
"Did anyone else notice how empty the auditorium was?" Palette asked. "It was so weird that it had steps and layers to it, but no chairs or even a podium."
"It was odd." Zero agreed with a nod. "I'm sure the reason for that is the same reason why we're all here to begin with."
"Ah, so we've had time to know each other now." a new voice spoke up. "Excellent."
Everyone in the room tried to look around for a new face, but no one could be seen.
"Don't look too hard," the voice snickered at them, "You can find me in the auditorium instead. We can get to know each other better there. Don't take too long."
"I don't like this." Cinnamon nervously mumbled.
"At least we'd get some sort of explanation." Spider decided, already working his way back to the auditorium. The others followed behind with their own levels of hesitation.
Back in the auditorium, there was now a podium placed at the front. Standing there was an ambiguous-gendered person with purple hair and red eyes.
"Plese, find a spot to get comfortable in." this person told them. "There's a lot to discuss."
Everyone gave their peers a glance before moving around the room a bit more. Once everyone seemed settled on a spot, the new person gave them a snide grin.
"Welcome to our little experiment, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Lumine." they said.
"Experiment?" Massimo repeated in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"
Lumine gave a proud snort. "I mean what I say," they claimed. "You were chosen for a very special purpose. One by one, you will each become Maverick. It will take its time, but it is inevitable."
"Maverick?" Zero questioned.
"Indeed." Lumine nodded. "A Maverick is one who kills one of your own. It is a fate you will all share- unless you're the killed, of course."
The idea immediately caused a round of shock.
"There's no way we'd kill each other!" Alia shouted at Lumine. They simply shrugged in response.
"We don't expect you to go Maverick right away, lab rats." they callously claimed. "This is an experiment, not a game. You're free to sit and enjoy yourself as domestic prisoners, but soon one of you will become Maverick. Be it boredom, perhaps even rage or fear. Maybe even a little nudge from time to time…"
"So we'll know when we've been called as a Maverick?" Spider asked, tipping his fedora upward to better glare at Lumine.
"Of course."
"This won't happen." Iris spoke up. "We'll live in peace."
Lumine looked to her. They gave Iris a glare so chilling that she immediately shied away from it.
"If you insist," they mused, "But know there is nothing you can do to stop it. You may become friends, but understand that you may find that the ones closest also know where to plunge the knife."
"Might as well blow us all skyhigh before that even happens then." Vile sneered before going into a proud laugh. Everyone looked to him- some in disbelief, others in anger. X himself could feel his hands clench with worry.
Any of them could become Maverick. They couldn't trust each other- not truly. Lumine might have called their situation an experiment, but it felt more like a sick game. A game where they'd always be on edge. A game where they'll never really know peace. A game where they'd have to hurt each other to survive.
This… was a killing game.