Disclaimer: The usual applies, I do not own Fate/Stay Night or Battle Royal.
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Chapter I – Let the Games Begin
Ayako awoke slowly, grudgingly grasping her way out of the comfortable darkness and gradually conscious thought began to return to her. At first she thought she was back in her bed at home but as her lethargy receded it occurred to her that that couldn’t be right, it felt more like she was sitting upright in a chair, with her head resting on the rough, unyielding surface of a table. She prised open her eyes and raised herself up to lean back in her seat, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she did. It was dark, too dark to see at first but soon her eyes started to adjust and she was able to take in her surroundings.
She was sitting at a desk, a school desk but not her own; it was old and battered and covered in a thick layer of dust like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. She looked around and saw that she was in what appeared to be in an old classroom, though it was obviously a long time since it had been used as such. The paint was faded and peeling off the walls and the floor tiles were cracked. There were other pieces of furniture scattered around the room too, although the desk she was sat at was in the best condition, most of the others were broken completely. At the front of the room was a much larger desk intended for a teacher. On top of that desk was a television and an old VHS player.
She wasn’t the only person in the room either.
Looking around she could see other people lying unconscious, kids her own age, some of whom she recognised. Makidera, Himuro and Saegusa were all grouped together in one corner, Tohsaka was lying on the floor right next to her desk and Emiya was propped up against a wall at the far side of the room. They and everyone else in the room were dressed in their school uniform; a quick look down at herself confirmed that she too was dressed in her uniform. To her left was a row of windows, the shutters were closed but like everything else, they were broken and through the gaps she could see stars in the night sky.
Now almost fully awake she was suddenly aware of a strange feeling around her throat, like it was being constricted slightly. She reached up and felt something cold and metallic under fingertips and it went all the way around her neck, like a necklace or a choker. She slipped out of her seat, knelt down to check Tohsaka and found her friend-cum-rival had a metal band around her throat too. She felt the first tendrils of real fear begin to creep in to her gut.
What the hell was going on!?
She tried to cast her mind back to remember where she was but it was no use. She could remember coming in to school that morning, ready for the field trip they had told them about a month ago. Kuzuki-sensei was supposed to be the one in charge but she hadn’t spotted him anywhere in the room with them just now. She remembered being on the coach for an hour or so, but after that it all became fuzzy…
A series of groans and shuffling noises let her know that some of the others were coming round, including Tohsaka whose eyes flickered open as she let out a very unladylike grunt.
“Mitsuzuri?” she said, struggling to sit up.
“Hey Tohsaka…” she replied then trailed off, unsure of how to continue. She been perfectly prepared to make a crack about the other girl’s grumpy, waking-up face but even in her head it fell kind of flat. This really didn’t seem to be the right atmosphere for jokes. She swung her head round to check on the members of the track team and found Makidera and Himuro already comforting an obviously distressed Saegusa.
“Mitsuzuri, what’s going on?” Tohsaka grumbled, drawing her attention back to her. There was a long moment where Ayako tried to come up with a response before giving up.
“I don’t know,” she answered. From the look on Tohsaka’s face she guessed the other girl was awake enough to catch the worry that she could not prevent creeping in to her tone.
All of their classmates were awake now and there was a low hum, as they began trying to get answers from each other, all of them asking the same question. As she looked around she could see that a couple of the others seemed to be on the verge of outright panic.
Abruptly the lights in the room flickered life, after the darkness the sudden illumination was blinding and she couldn’t help hissing in pain. Suddenly the door to the room crashed open and there was the sound of many feet against the tiled floor. When her vision cleared she was able to see that the newcomer was a tall man with dark hair and a vaguely amused expression on his face. He was dressed completely in black; his trousers, his shirt, his coat, he sort of looked like a priest. He even had a dog collar and a gold crucifix hanging around his neck. She’d been nervous a second ago but now, now the hair on the back of her neck was standing on end, her skin was breaking out in goose bumps and her stomach was really twisting itself in to knots. Something about this man completely unnerved her. She guessed Tohsaka felt the same way, because her face had become a completely blank mask and she was sitting very, very still.
Standing around the room were men in combat fatigues who had seemingly entered the room with him. Despite the fact that these men were carrying guns that looked very real, her eyes kept getting drawn back to the “priest”.
The man in question stood before the teacher’s desk and spread his arms wide, as though he wanted nothing more than to embrace them all. He still had that amused little smile on his lips and there was a glimmer in his eye.
“Good evening children!” he said, in a deep voice that seemed to reverberate in her bones. It was a voice that went well with the ominous atmosphere in the room.
“Who the hell are you!” one of the guys at the back of the room exclaimed, pointing his finger at the man aggressively. The priest did not seem to be perturbed by the sudden outburst in the slightest, if anything the smile on his face grew just a tiny bit wider. Although maybe that was just her imagination.
“My name is Kotomine Kirei and I have been asked to conduct your education for the next three days. So, if you could all take a seat and we’ll begin.”
For a second most of the students looked around in confusion, since there wasn’t much furniture in the room and most of what there was, was broken. Some of the students however simply elected to sit on the floor where they were stood. Ayako was spared the choice, since she was already kneeling on the floor next to Tohsaka. Eventually one of the soldiers bellowed “Sit down!” and his colleagues hefted their rifles. This prompted the standing students to follow the lead of the others and simply sit where they could. Meanwhile their new teacher was busy writing something on the cracked and broken blackboard.
BR Act.
“Do any of you know what this is?” he asked them, his hands now clasped behind his back.
Ayako had a vague idea she’d heard the term before but couldn’t remember when or where. Although she was sure it had been shortly after the turn of the millennium. She noticed Tohsaka’s hands clench just slightly in her lap and figured the “model student” knew what it was and that it wasn’t anything good, at least not for them. Kotomine-sensei seemed to take their silence to indicate that they didn’t and continued:
“I see, truly the state of education in this country is in decline, or perhaps it is the youth of today who have become misguided?” he said with a chuckle.
“Fortunately, this ties directly in to what I have been asked to teach you,”
A low murmur ran through the class, until one of the soldiers bellowed for them to be quiet again.
“At the turn of the millennium the government despaired at the state of the youth in this country. Truancy and youth crime were at an all time high, so this law was passed, in order to correct the problem. So for today’s lesson:
“You will all kill each other.”
There was an explosion of noise as all of the students react to the statement. Some yelled at the soldiers or the priest, some were babbling unintelligibly amongst each other and some had started sobbing uncontrollably and were close to hysterics. Ayako’s stomach had reacted quite violently to the news and she felt like she was going to be sick, this had to be a joke right? Tohsaka hadn’t reacted visibly but she saw the girl’s knuckles had gone white. After a few minutes one of the soldiers fired several shots in to the ceiling and several people screamed, then everything went silent, except for the sounds of all those who were breathing heavy. The fact that several pieces of plaster and a lot of dust fell from the ceiling eroded any hope Ayako held, that this was just some sort of sick joke.
“Now, are there any questions?” Kotomine-sensei asked.
“What if we just killed you?!” It was the same guy who had demanded the priest’s name before. Immediately all of the soldiers in the room had their weapons trained on him.
“I applauded your courage, young man,” the priest replied. “However, how close do you think you will get before you are cut down?”
There was a long moment of silence, until the student in question sat down. He had gone pale and was shaking, all the wind had gone out of his sails.
“Anyone else?”
Immediately several of the students raised their hands and their “teacher” pointed to one of them. Although she didn’t turn to see who it was, Ayako was easily able to identify the voice of Ryuudo Issei.
“Sensei, could please give us a better explanation of the situation?”
The priest chuckled before answering, and his gaze swept over all of them.
“Think of it as a competition … or a war.”
Ayako could have sworn that his gaze hovered over Tohsaka as he added that last bit.
“There are forty of you here now, and you will all fight each other until only one is left standing. That one will be declared the winner and will be allowed to return home. If you wish to survive, you must be prepared to do whatever it takes. Anymore?”
It was Ryuudo who asked again.
“How were we chosen, sensei?”
“They gathered the names of all the high school classes in the country and had a computer choose one at random. You were simply the ones fortunate enough to have your names selected.”
“What happened to Kuzuki-sensei?” one of the girls asked, without raising her hand.
The priest simply smiled and motioned towards one of the soldiers who immediately saluted and left the room.
“Kuzuki-sensei was deeply opposed to his students being selected for this year’s game.”
The soldier returned wheeling in a gurney, with something hidden under a white cloth atop it. Ayako couldn’t take her eyes off it and she felt almost numb as the implications sunk in. The priest stepped forward and pulled back the cloth.
Immediately people were screaming again, although it didn’t last nearly as long as before. Kuzuki-sensei’s body was covered in wound and there was dried blood all over him. Ayako felt the bile starting to rise up in the back of her throat but she fought it down and just barely managed to avoid throwing up. The soldiers covered up the body again and removed it from the room.
“Know that Kuzuki-sensei fought very hard on your behalf, a valiant man,” Kotomine-sensei said. “Unfortunately he was both outnumbered and outgunned.”
Several of the students were crying now and Ayako could her own eyes beginning to sting. Part of her was angry and wanted to rage and scream. Another part was frozen in fear, afraid that if she did anything to draw attention to herself then she would end up like Kuzuki-sensei. She felt something warm against her palm and looked down to find that at some point she had grabbed hold of Tohsaka’s hand; until that moment she hadn’t noticed that she herself had been starting to shake, if only slightly. She felt Tohsaka squeeze her hand and without looking she squeezed back, although she didn’t know whether she was trying to give reassurance or receive it.
“Now if there are no more questions,” Kotomine-sensei said. “We will be watching a video. I would encourage you all to watch it very carefully.” With that her pressed play on the video player.
Incredibly cheesy and upbeat music blared from the speakers of the television, it sounded like something out of an old school video game. There was a bright red BR displayed on the screen and over the top a woman announced in a voice that was way too perky for the current ominous atmosphere announced:
“The right way to fight a battle royal, by the BR act committee!”
The dark humour of it may have made her laugh, if she didn’t still feel like she would throw – up if she opened her mouth.
When the title card faded the woman who had spoke appeared on screen. She looked like an idol singer or something, her hair and makeup were obviously professionally done and even her fingernails looked perfectly manicured. She was wearing stylised combat fatigues and looked as bouncy and energetic as her voice suggested. She gave them all a salute as she began speaking again.
“Hello to everyone in class 2 – 2! You guys are the lucky ones chosen to participate in this year’s Battle Royale!”
Yeah, real lucky.
“Now listen carefully while I explain the rules.”
Suddenly the screen changed to show a 3D map of an island, presumably the one they were on. The voice of the presenter immediately confirmed this suspicion, adding that the island was approximately ten kilometres around and that it was abandoned. The “battlefield” was also divided in to several dozen zones and every six hours coordinates would be broadcast telling them which zones were about to become “danger zones”.
“Okay, now about the necklaces you’re wearing! They’re one hundred per cent shock proof and water resistant, and they can’t be removed,” the presenter said, voice still as perky as ever, despite the words she was saying. “They monitor your vital signs, locations and movements, so if you linger too long in a danger zone – BOOM – it explodes.”
Ayako should have felt something over that announcement, she really should have; shock, fear, anger anything. But she didn’t, after all the things they had already been told in the last few minutes she couldn’t bring herself to feel anything more, not even over something like this.
“Ah, it’ll also explode if you try to remove it, so don’t okay?” the presenter added, with a cheesy smile. “Now this game has a seventy-two hour time limit, so if we don’t have a winner after three days all the necklaces explode and nobody wins.”
Ayako remembered some of the first words their new “teacher” had said to them:
I have been asked to conduct your education for the next three days.
Then the doors to the classroom burst open once more and two cages containing dozens of holdalls were brought in.
“Now, you’ll leave the room one at a time as I call your names, “ the girl in the video said. “But first you get a kit. Inside will be food and water, a map and compass, a flashlight and a random weapon. Oh, the girls might also need personally items, so you can take them with you.”
How kind of them, she thought. Even in her own mind those words dripped with sarcasm. Distantly she realised it wouldn’t be a problem for her, she wasn’t due on for another couple of weeks.
“Now, when I say your name I want to here a nice big “Here!”
“Boys number one: Ryuudo Issei.”
“Here!” Ryuudo said, rising from his seat. One of the soldiers threw a holdall at him, he caught it, then bolted for the door.
“Girls number one: Tohsaka Rin.”
“Here,” Tohsaka answered, surprising Ayako by managing to keep her voice even. A bag came hurtling towards her, she caught it deftly and walked towards the doorway. If Ayako hadn’t known better, she would have sworn the girl didn’t feel fear.
“Boys number two: Matou Shinji.”
Shinji didn’t even bother to answer as he rose from his seat. He caught the bag easily enough, then he walked quickly towards the door.
“Girls number two: Makidera Kaede.”
“Here!” Makidera leapt out of her seat and sprinted towards the door, catching her bag on the run.
“Boys number three: Emiya Shirou,”
“Here.” Again Ayako was caught by surprise as Emiya’s voice was almost as even as Tohsaka’s. As he walked by though, she could see his face wasn’t as expressionless as the school idol’s had been. His brow was furrowed but he didn’t look scared, in fact he looked angry. He caught his “kit” then walked determinedly out of the room.
“Girls number three: Mitsuzuri Ayako.”
“Here.” She answered, feeling an icy chill run down her spine as she rose to her feet and barely managing to keep her voice from breaking. She was determined not to show her fear, if Tohsaka and Emiya could do it, then so could she. She almost fumbled the bag as she caught it but managed to keep hold of it and restrained herself to a walk as she headed towards the door. Only once she was out in the hallway and a safe distance from the classroom, did she allow herself to pick up the pace. The school building they were in seemed to have the same layout a lot of Japanese schools favoured, so it was easy enough to find the exit.
She burst through the doors and felt the fresh night air against her skin. She stopped just for a second, allowing herself to breath it in. Then she heard footsteps echoing from within the building and started running again, vanishing in to the night.
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AN: What's this, yet another fic from PhoenixAct? Yes but with one big difference, this one will actually have an ending. How can I say that with such certainty? Because it's already finished, seriously it's sitting on my hard drive, all I'm doing is giving it one last look over before I post.
So read and enjoy.
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