Day 1: Introductions

Jaden rolled his eyes at all the chatter that was happening. "Can we pay attention to the fuckin' bear for like, five seconds," he said pointedly, raising his hands to emphasize his point.

"I can only take so much of this, y'know."

Claire noticed Jordan trying to get her attention out of the corner of her eye and gave her new friend a look and head shake that said "I am so done with these people." She began tapping the screen of her wrist device with her pink fingernails to relieve some of her tension.

Martin crammed what was once his well-arranged dinner into his mouth, a gloomy expression resting over his face afterwards. Even Cobalt's energy did nothing to affect him, despite sitting right next to him.

"Alright. Done. I'm finished," he made a quick job of wiping off his knife and fork with a napkin and dropping them on his plate.

The bear had been listening to their boring conversation when his name was called.

"Do you want my speech early, Mister Masters? I suppose I could start up on dessert before you've all finished eating...though most of you have, anyway. Alright, it's time for dessert!"

Monobear got up walked over to the kitchen. He brought back one cake that seemed the perfect amount for all sixteen students. They'd all be able to take a delicious slice of cake, but he brought it to his seat and dug in.

"Oh, upupupu...did I say dessert was for you all? Sorry bastards, this is for me! This is your first lesson here . By the way...welcome to the manor of mutual killing! Upupupu...here, while we're on a retreat from our lovely school, we'll learn about things like murder, trials, and despair! Upupu...!" the bear laughed so hard he almost fell out of his chair.

"You're trapped here, if you haven't realized that yet! All the windows are bolted and all the exits locked. But there is one way out. We call it the manor of mutual killing because your one and only requirement is to murder your classmates! Successfully murdering a classmate - and not getting caught - will lead to your freedom! Isn't that fun?"

The bear was smiling. "Of course, any respectable household needs a few rules. These are ours:

Rule one! Murders may only take place during nighttime, which is six PM to six AM. Don't worry, I'll announce when they start and end for you bastards!

Rule two! The dining room and kitchen are closed during early nighttime. Don't lock yourself inside.

Rule three! Genocide doesn't make for a fun game. If you kill more than two people, I'll have to disqualify you.

Rule four! You can't get found out after you've committed your crime. We'll vote on who we all think did it, and if you're not caught, you can graduate!

Rule five! Don't sleep outside of your bedroom. Very unnecessary. Very stupid.

Rule six! Don't break down locked doors. They're locked for a reason, and that's so that you bastards can't get in."

It took a breath and looked around at the faces.

"That's about it. I hope we have a good time here on our class retreat! Upupupupupupu!" The bear was laughing so hard it was a miracle he hadn't fallen apart.

Antoine had been sitting with his arms crossed, staring at the bear with spite in his eyes.  With the announcement, his eyebrow arced slightly and his eyes widened.  He grimaced, then shot from his seat, sending Lisa's wheelchair to the floor as the marched over to the bear.  His legs were trembling slightly as he approached.

"Jokes are supposed to get better as the night goes on." He growled, hoisting the bear into the air and giving it a few good shakes, "Now cut the crap."

Caleb's eyes remained the same icy blue, with no sign of widening or squinting. No reaction on his face at all, in fact.

"What sort of elaborate induction ceremony is this, Mr. Monobear?" he said. He almost wanted to agree with Antoine. This joke was getting more absurd by the minute.

Jason was beside himself.

"MURDER?" he screeched, his voice almost a guttural roar. He was shaking, the piece of bread he was holding somewhere halfway across the room. His face was contorted in the most horrified way possible.

"I'M NOT GOING TO KILL ANYONE! FUCKIN' NO."

The bear pouted and stared at the comedian that was holding him up. He was almost glad.

"Didn't I warn you that assaulting your headmaster is strictly against the rules, bastard?" The bear didn't sound humorous anymore. "First you try to leave the dinner I planned out so hard for you all, then you go against what I say, and now you assault me. That's three strikes. Upupupu..." The bear laughed. "You're out!"

At that moment a small panel opened up on the wall and a cane - like the ones that pulled actors offstage after a terrible act - shot out of it. It wrapped itself around Antoine's neck.

The bear grinned. A demonstration tends to help drive the idea home.

One hand slowly reached for the cane in a vain attempt to catch a gasping breath.

"That's not very fun..." his voice stopped abruptly as a sharp, quiet snap resonated briefly in the room. His arms dropped to his sides, and his bracelet clattered to the floor.

Cobalt's chair fell as he rose, but there was a much different energy this time- all excitement was gone. Without noticing everything around him, he instead began to pull at the bracelet on his wrist which held his glove and, consequently costume, to his body. Drained, he let his arm fall to his side. After a few blinks, his eyes widened again.

"T-There's no reason to worry! We will surely all be okay! I, Cobalt, will not let anyone die!" His voice trembled with every breath.

Dakota was halfway through a roll when Monobear finally made his announcement. "What?" She grunted. "What's that mean?" She furrowed her brows carefully, "What do you mean the cake's all yours?"

Dakota stared at the cake intensely, but distraction crossed her face as she tried to put the strange welcome together. "Doesn't...make sense..." She began grumbling when finally the fight she had been waiting for broke out.

"Woah!" She stood up suddenly, "Hey!? Hey are you-!?"

The way that Monobear had broken down his speech was just simple enough for Dark to understand most of what he had said.

"M-mutual killing?!" he exclaimed in shock. "I will not kill! Crazyness! You're crazed! Insanity!" As the exchange between Antoine and Monobear took place, and Antoine was lifted into the air, Dark became incoherent. "No no no no no no no! Cr-crazy!" The rest of what he said was jumbled Arabic with the occasional "no" tossed in.

Today was not Jason McDorne's day.

He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. "He... He..." he muttered, his eyes looking almost distant, ignoring everyone.

Finally, he collapsed in his seat, out cold.

The comedian's body snapped back into the wall as the cane pulled him back towards it. He crumpled.

The bear fell neatly to the floor, landing on his feet. He wiped himself off, even if there wasn't any blood on him. "I love neat deaths." he said quietly and cheerily.

He looked at the other students. "You bastards are all free to go. Night time is almost here." he said poignantly as he walked out of the room and disappeared.

Lisa stared blankly at the scene unfolding around her.  With shaky arms, she attempted to drag herself back into her wheelchair, not having noticed it's fall.  Before she could catch herself she fell limply to the floor, holding her head in her hands.

"Ahah...this...isn't....right?" A few small tears landed in her hands as she sat, stranded.

Ruby swallowed hard at the display unfolding, helpless to what was going on. A toxic bubble began to churn in the pit of her stomach at the display. It built and built like gas condensing into a fire until it was suddenly too much.

"Aah....aah...AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" her screech pierced the air and her lungs felt like they were on fire. It must have taken more out of her than she thought, as she nearly stumbled into Dark in a dizzy spell.

Miranda pulled a hand to her mouth. Shock slowly filled her face as she rose to her feet.

Her stride was calm as she slowly got to her feet, walking over to Antoine's body. She stood next to Monobear.

"He's dead, then?" She said, her voice flat. "I don't think it's against the rules to do this."

She took a step forwards and took her coat off, tossing it on Antoine's head. "I'll return that, then."

Jaden gave Antoine a disgusted look right up until the end. But when he saw that the kid was in actual danger, his attitude changed. "H-hey! What the fuck!" He stood up from his chair, accidentally knocking it over. "This ain't a fucking joke! What the hell?"

He was one of the first to run over to his classmate's body. "Antoine, come on! Get up you asshole!"

"Heh, wha- WHAT THE ACTUAL SHIT?" Aris was eating through the whole execution, but once she focused, she spat out practically everything that was in her mouth, throwing her chair back to get a better view.

"HOW THE HELL IS THIS EVEN LEGAL?"

Caleb's lips felt dry and chapped as he took in everything around him. Dark's jumbled Arabic, the faint sound of Lisa crying, and Ruby's piercing shriek.

Perhaps this wasn't a ruse after all.

Slowly, he rose from his seat and joined Miranda and Jaden. He bent down and lifted up Antoine's limp wrist to check for a pulse.

"I do not believe he will be getting up, Mr. Masters," he finally said solemnly.

Jason Brant took one look at Antoine and took a deep breath. He blinked quickly. His face went from confused and scared to just confused.

"What the fuck's goin' on here?" he asked, but his voice sounded fundamentally different. "Who the fuck are all of you people?" he looked around and spotted Antoine, and his face went pale. "This is fucked up. This is so fucked up, ain't it?"

He ripped his stupid headband off and wrapped himself up in the ragged sweatshirt. He pulled the hood up after messing with his hair until the fact that it was horribly gelled was barely noticeable. "There we go, Jesus."

He tentatively walked over to Antoine and Jaden. He looked at Antoine once over and looked at Jaden grimly.

"He ain't gettin' up."

Claire froze when Antoine was hung with the cane, and by the time Monobear left the room and students were walking over to his dead body, she was out of it.

"I am so checking out of here..." she said quietly, then fell to the floor by her seat, unconscious.

Cobalt walked briskly over to Aris, trying to hide his shakes.

"I still plan to watch the halls! I would not blame you for choosing another course of action, however."

Jaden looked at Antoine's covered body with terror. "That can't be right! People don't just die like this all the time! Not again!" He crouched down next to his dead classmate and his eyes began watering.

"C'mon man, you didn't deserve this..."

Jordan didn't have time to respond to her friend's glance before the bear gave its speech.

"Killing...?" Her eyes glassed over, not staring at anything in particular, until several screams and a sickening thud. She fidgeted and then bolted forwards, as if waking up. "That's...!" She pushed her chair back, creating an ear-ripping screech of her own before standing up shakily.

She stood in silence, completely and utterly lost in the loud chaos around her.