Chapter Text
“Wow, they really weren’t kidding about this place,” Aether mumbled under his breath. Hope’s Peak High School towered above the blonde, blocking out the sun as it reflected against its glass windows. Hope’s Peak was a school for young talented students to fulfill their career dreams and goals. You knew you were really special if you were selected to attend the school. Every few years, 15 talented students plus one lucky lottery winner, known as the ‘Ultimates,’ were chosen to attend Hope’s Peak High School in hope they would graduate high school with many achievements. Unfortunately, Aether had no special skill that gave him a spot in the selection. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to win the lottery to attend, tuition paid, and everything. That made him The Ultimate Lucky Student. Not much to brag about there. Years before, his twin sister had gone missing, and she still hasn’t been found. His family has been in complete devastation since then, so, Aether going off to prestigious high school lifted their spirits.
Aether stood there for a few seconds, thinking to himself, wondering who the other students were and what their ultimates were. “Is this a good choice?” He asks himself this a few more times before agreeing to finally open the giant gates blocking the entrance to the school. He takes one step and his head starts spinning really fast. Everything starts to get blurry and dark. Is this the end? Maybe he did make a bad decision.
Then it all goes dark.
Drowsy, lightheaded. Aether felt like he had just fallen into a void of darkness. What happened exactly? He couldn’t remember much, but he did remember stepping into Hope’s Peak and soon enough passing out. Now, he was in a classroom sitting at a desk with his head in his arms. He lifted his head up, looking around and noticing writing on the chalkboard. In big, white letters wrote, ‘All students meet in the gym at eight o’clock.’ There were security cameras all around the room. The windows were boarded up with giant metal plates and extremely large bolts keeping them from being removed. Aether glanced at the clock hanging from the wall. 7:45. That was right before eight. He got up from his seat, left the classroom, and headed for the gym. The hallways of Hope’s Peak were very dim-lighted and very difficult to see much. Soon enough, he found the gym blocked my two big doors. He used all of his strength to swing them open, revealing a gym filled with 15 other students. They all swiveled their heads toward Aether at the sound of the doors opening.
“Oh, good, you’re finally here!” Said a tall girl with very light blonde hair pulled into a tight high ponytail. “We’ve been waiting for you.” She’s said it so enthusiastically, it made Aether feel guilty for making them wait for him.
“That makes sixteen of us, correct?” Comments another tall girl with a darker shade of blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. She had some sort of book in her hand at the time. She softly smiles when no one answered her. “I’ll take your silence as a yes.” Aether took this time to scan the room. He noticed two read heads, one being a ginger and one having a bright fire red-head. He noticed two girls with what looked like animal clips in their hair, one goat horns, and one cat's ears. There were many other students but those four caught Aether’s eye the most.
“Sorry to interrupt,” a calm voice came out of a tall, dark man with a darker shade of blue hair strung over his shoulder. He had an eye patch on, concealing his right eye. “but does anyone know where we are?”
“We should be in Hope’s Peak High School.” Answered another tall man with amber eyes and brown hair pulled into a low ponytail. “If I remember clearly, which is difficult for me right now, I walked into Hope’s Peak, blacked out, woke up in a classroom, and now I’m here.”
“That happened to me too!” Aether replied. Everyone else either mumbled an agreement or nodded their heads.
“So let’s get this straight,” a loud voice came from behind Aether. He turned around to find a girl with brown and red hair pulled into puffy buns. She had a thick country accent. It sounded almost fake and natural at the same time. “we all blacked out, woke up in a classroom, and none of us know what’s going on.”
“That would be the case.” Answered the girl with her nose still in the book. Whatever the book was about, it was more interesting than the situation they were in currently.
“W-what are we supposed to do now?” Stammered a girl with blonde twin tails. Aether opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by a loud microphone screeching. Everyone quickly covered their ears with their hands while the screeching silenced. Finally, a voice came on to the microphone.
“Ahem...is this thing on? Can anyone hear me?” A high-pitched, annoying voice came out of the speakers. “Sorry about the volume, folks! Let me just fix thaaaat..... and there we go!” The sound was significantly lowered. “Attention students! Please focus your attention on the stage at the right of the gym!” Everyone turned their heads to see who or what was about to come out. Tension stirred up inside them. Then, out of nowhere, a small orange bear jumped out from the stage and landed on top of the podium. Aether looked around at everyone to see the most shocked expressions on their faces. He would expect that since they all just witnessed a teddy bear jump out from somewhere.
“Greetings students! And welcome to Hope’s Peak High School!” It was talking. The orange teddy bear was talking. Was Aether hallucinating? This wasn’t real. “My name is Guoba, and I’m the headmaster of this school!” Everyone looked as shocked as before, maybe even more.
“Is that...is that teddy bear talking?” Asked the girl with the goat horn hairpieces. “This must be a dream.”
“Young lady, I am not a teddy bear, I am Headmaster Guoba, and I would like to be called that!”
“Like we’d ever call you that, you’re just a bear!” Cried out the ginger as he took a fighting position. So dramatic.
“Well, you’re correct about that, but I suppose I can’t force you to call me headmaster, now can I?” Guoba looked around the room for any answers. “Wow, tough crowd. Anyways, you still have to call me Guoba, not a talking teddy bear, even if I do look like a reject Build-a-Bear.”
“What exactly do you want from us, and why are we here?” Asked the fire red-head. His voice was calm and soothing, sort of like he didn’t care where he was.
“Good question: you’re here because your parents told you you were so special that you could attend the magical Hope’s Peak High, and what I want from you isssss....well....nothing really, your headmaster is just bored.”
“So, you put us in a school because you were bored? That doesn’t make much sense just to put a bunch of teenagers in a high school just because you have nothing to do.” A different voice this time came from behind Aether. It was scratchy and low. He didn’t turn around to recognize where it came from since his attention was on the talking bear.
Guoba sighed. “Yeah you’re right, I didn’t put you in here cause I was bored,” His emotion drastically changed, from some sassy bear to depressed. “I trapped you in here because I wanted to! Heheheheh!” Aether rolled his eyes. “But if you don’t want to stay here, there is one way to get out...” He let his voice drag out, hooking everyone on to his sentence.
“Oh, what is it? Tell us!” Twin tail’s voice sounded a bit more relaxed since she knew there was some way out.
“Good ole’ fashioned murder!” Guoba happily cried out. How could he be so happy about murder? “Stabbing, cutting, choking, drowning, electrocution, decapitation, poison!” Everyone’s expression became more and more horrified as Guoba went on. “Blunt force, dismemberment, black ma-“ Aether cut him off.
“We have to do WHAT to get out of here?”
“Young man, do you need to get your ears checked? I just told you: murder!” Guoba replied almost immediately as if this isn’t the first time someone asked.
“So, you want us to, like, fight to the death? Cause if that’s the case then I’ll go easy on you all.” The ginger boasted.
“Well, if you want to go down that way, I welcome you to, but no, not exactly a fight to the death.” Guoba continued. “Let’s say that one night, one of you students wants to go home reeeeaaally badly, but they can’t without killing someone. So, they decide to commit homicide that night, and the next morning, the unfortunate victim’s body is found. Once three people that do not include the killer find the body, the investigation will begin. After a short amount of time, we will begin a class trial of non-stop debate. At the end of the debate, you will vote for who you think the killer is. Get it correct, the blackened will be punished. Get it wrong, everyone but the blackened will be punished and the killer will be free to leave to school, or graduate! Any questions? Good.”
“Wait, these punishments, what are they exactly?” Asked the girl with purple hair and cat ear attachments.
“Well, I’d call them more executions if you want to be specific,” Guoba answered.
“I have another question.” She called out again.
“Ask away.”
“So, if the jury gets the blackened incorrect, the jury is the one to get ‘punished,’ am I correct?”
“Bingo! Give this kid a prize. Is that all?” She nodded her head.
“I have a question.” Asked the tall brunette.
“Fire away, kid.”
“There has to be some specific reason why you’re doing this than beside you just wanted to. What is it?”
“Another good question. I want all of you to understand the effects of hope and despair! Heheheheh! Oh, how wonderful despair is! It fills me with so much joy!” Guoba continued to laugh. “The more hope you have, the more likely you to succeed in life, but the more despair you have, the more life brings you down. And let me tell you, having students trapped in a high school where they are forced into a killing game is the most despair-inducing thing I’ve ever done! And don’t think you’re as special as your mommies and daddies tell you, you aren’t the first group of students to participate in this!” Small gasps filled the room. “That’s right! Real people have died in this very school, and probably in the same room, you’re standing in right now! But I don’t remember whether they did or not, I’ve done this way too many times over these years, I’m kinda wondering how old I’m getting! But that’s not the point. The point is you all participate in this killing game of hope and despair!” Guoba continued to laugh as a few whimpers and cries come from the crowd. “Also, one of you is working for me! That’s right! I recommend you find out who they are and kill them before they kill all of you. That’s all from me. Happy killing!” Guoba jumped down from the podium and disappeared into the stage. A few crashes and a small ‘ow’ came from underneath, then it went silent. Guoba was gone.
“What are we gonna do?!” Twin tails cried out. Her eyes and nose were red as tears rolled down her face.
“You don’t need to worry, none of us would kill anyone! Right guys?” Aether glanced around the room as everyone answered by glancing away or mumbling ‘maybe.’
“Well, it is true we art going to beest here for a while, we shouldst belike all introduceth ourselves. I’ll wend first.” Everyone looked at who was talking with pure confusion. It was a blonde girl with an eyepatch as well, and she also had a bird with her.
“Wha-what did she say?” Asked the girl with a country accent.
“What mein frauline said was ‘if were are going to be here a while, we should introduce ourselves.’ She said she would go first.” The bird said.
“Oh great, first a talking bear and now a talking bird. Yeah, no, I refuse to believe this is real.” Said the ginger. “But if it is, I agree with her. We should introduce ourselves.”
“I am Fischl, Prinzessin der Verurteilung, and I am the Ultimate Princess!” Fischl said. “And I am Oz.” The bird introduced himself.
“Uhh, I’ll go next. I’m Childe and I’m the Ultimate Fighter.”
“I’m Xinyan! I’m the Ultimate Musician!”
“Hi, I’m Barbara, and I’m the Ultimate Idol.”
“My name is Diluc. I am the Ultimate Entrepreneur.”
“I am Kaeya, Ultimate Calvary Captain.”
“I’m Ganyu and I’m the Ultimate Secretary.”
“You may call me Zhongli, and I am the Ultimate Historian.”
“I am Keqing, Ultimate Writer.”
“Oh, my turn? Alright, my name is Lisa and I am the Ultimate Librarian.”
“My name is Venti, I’m the Ultimate Bard!”
“I am Albedo, and I am the Ultimate Alchemist.”
“My name is Amber! I’m the Ultimate Archer!”
“I am Jean, the Ultimate Knight.”
“My name is Xiao.” That was the same voice that came from behind Aether.
“What’s your Ultimate?” He asked. Xiao didn’t answer.
“Well, I’m Aether and I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student. That’s all.” “Nice to meet you, Aether!” Barbara shook his hand aggressively. Her mood changed quickly.
“I noticed nobody answered Barbara’s question,” Zhongli stated. “what do we do now?” Aether looked around the room for any useless clues that might help them get out of here without having to commit homicide.
“Well, we could look around the school to know our surroundings.” He offered.
“That sounds like a great idea!” Lisa complimented. Aether turned slightly red from it. He wasn’t usually complimented, so it made him feel good.
“We should split up into groups of three. We don’t want any murders happening while we do it.” Diluc stated.
“That also sounds like a good idea,” Ganyu told him.
Since there were sixteen students, there were two groups that only had two people in them. Aether, being the lucky student he was, was put into one of the two-person groups with Xiao. The other group was Childe and Zhongli. They all agreed to meet at the cafeteria at 10:00 A.M. after looking around specific spots.
“So, Xiao, where are you from?” Aether asked as he dug around a dusty closet in a classroom looking for clues.
“I’m from Liyue.” He answered quietly.
“Cool, cool....so, do you not have a talent or do you just not remember?” Xiao didn’t answer. Aether kept shut whilst he pushed empty boxes aside and looked through full ones, though the only thing he found was old newspapers from years ago and plastic action figurines. He thought the figurines looked familiar, but he just ignored them and went back to searching. He kept the newspapers since they might help him figure a few things out, and if not, something to read when things get boring. “Find anything?” Aether asked Xiao. He shook his head and went back to searching.
“We should look somewhere else.” He finally spoke up.
“Good idea.”
An hour later, everyone met back up in the cafeteria, thankfully no murders had been committed, and a few groups closer, specifically Childe and Zhongli. They were chatting like they were old friends. Guess spending an hour with one person can start a relationship.
“Alright people, what have we learned?” Xinyan called out to get everyone’s attention. Jean started.
“We found that the kitchen has fully stocked food and each night it’s refilled prior to what we ate the day before.”
“Okay good, anything else?” Then Keqing.
“Everyone has their bedroom and bathroom. Although, only the girl’s bathrooms lock, not the boys. And there are cameras everywhere.”
“Alright, what else?”
“None of us have our phones, but we do have digital notebooks,” Xiao said out loud. So he did find something. “It has the rules and a map of the school.”
“It says here that no students are allowed to leave their rooms during the nights hours which is 10:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. and the water is turned off then as well.” Kaeya read out loud to the group.
“Is that all we found? Well good job te-“
“I found something,” Aether called out.
“Show us then!” Xinyan yelled out. Aether pulled out the newspapers and unrolled them on the table. Everyone took a minute to read the headline and date.
“This paper is almost two years old.” Albedo said. “I don’t see how this will help us.” Aether knew it was useless anyway.
After more discussion, they broke apart to explore the school on their own more. That’s when Aether knew the killing game had to start at some point. There was no escaping the jaws of this despair.