Author Note:

Chapter 1 is kinda short (only 4 daily life parts) since I need get into the groove.

_____

*ding dong, bing bong*

"Attention! It is now 7 am. Rise and shine participants. It's a lovely day to get your talent back."

They really are drilling the talentless thing into our heads, huh?

I awoke in my room of the mansion, blinded by all the green everywhere.

I don't even like green.

I slipped on the same green hoodie I wore yesterday, too tired to take another out of the dresser.

Once I'm ready, I wait for my sister outside her room. It's conveniently across from mine, so I don't have to walk far. While I'm waiting, a familiar ginger in a cowboy hat greets me.

"Good mornin', Felix," Hunter greeted me. "How'd ya sleep last night?"

"Pretty good, actually." Answered me. "You?"

"Amazin'." He happily told me. "Though, I suppose that's because I have plenty a practice."

"Practice? How so?" I questioned Hunter.

"You remember how I said I injured my arm?" The ginger refreshed my memory. "Well, I spent a lotta time in the hospital sleepin'. That habit never really went away when I got discharged."

That definitely explained his tendency to dose off mid conversation yesterday.

"Watcha waitn' out here for, Felix?" He asked me.

"My sister." I glanced to Fawn's room than back at him. "We're going to get breakfast together."

"That's sweet," Hunter commented. "It's nice that you have someone you know here."

"Yeah." I agreed without much thought. "Do you wanna join us? I don't think Fawn will mind too much."

That's a lie... She will. She doesn't do well around strangers.

"Of course!" He agreed.

Fawn finally opened her door. Her eyes widened when she saw Hunter, anxiously gulping before approaching us.

"What are you doing here?" She asked rather bluntly, though it was mostly because she was in shock.

"He's eating breakfast with us." I gave her a tiny smile.

"What..." She blinked, before leaning over to whisper to me. "Why is he coming with us to breakfast?"

"I invited him." I whispered back. "It'll be fine. One person isn't so bad, right?"

"I guess so." She sighed, stepping away.

"Alright, let's go," I turned to Hunter. "Today's gonna be my— our lucky day."

Upon stepping into the dinning room we were greeted by a strong smell seeping out from the kitchen. The three of us decided to investigate, discovering that Rory and Zenith were cooking. Tabitha was also there, though she wasn't doing any work. The influencer was too busy taking selfies with various kitchenware.

"What's goin' on in here?" Questioned a surprised equestrian.

"Isn't it pretty obvious?" Rory raised an eyebrow. "We're making breakfast."

I would've never guessed.

"I assume you three will eat pancakes?" Zenith questioned.

"Yeah, of course." I nodded. "Do you two need any help?"

"Three." Tabitha butted it.

"Nope!" Rory declined my offer. "We're practically almost done."

"We're very grateful for your offer, though." The chauffeur politely said.

Fawn, Hunter, and I returned to the dining room. Nikolas had just arrived, presumably noticing the smell of food just like we did.

"What's that smell?" Asked Nikolas.

"Rory and Zenith are cookin' pancakes for all of us." Hunter explained.

"They don't need to do that," The ice skater said. "But I guess it's better than if I were to try and make something on my own."

"Can you not cook?" I inquired.

"I wouldn't say that..." He shook his head. "I just don't do well with heat. Or fire for that matter."

"How do you cook without fire then?" I asked.

"Usually I make frozen foods or I just don't cook at all." He explained. "I can afford to eat out, so that's what I do most of the time."

"That makes sense." I said, failing to pay attention to whatever was said afterwards.

I wish I could eat out a lot. Usually when I do, it's to celebrate and Fawn ends up paying. ...and that doesn't happen a whole lot.

Hunter and Nikolas began to change the topic, though I couldn't help but think about what the skater had said.

"What about ya'll?" Hunter turned to Fawn and I.

"What was the question again?" I awkwardly laughed, to brush how I stopped paying attention.

"What's your favorite food?" Nikolas repeated the question. "That's up there with the icebreakers you do with strangers... I think."

"Probably cheese." I blurted.

"Peanut butter." My sister answered.

"What about you two?" I asked. "I spaced out and didn't hear your answers."

"I said deep fried Oreos." Hunter recapped.

"Ice cream for me." Said Nikolas.

The pancakes were brought out before another conversation could truly start. Within the next hour, the others appeared in the cafeteria. Most people didn't stay long enough to talk, but there was a few out of the group who stuck around.

"Let's see, there are," Tabitha mutter aloud. "One, two..."

"Eight." Quartz answered.

"Eight!" The influencer jumped out of her seat. "I think the eight of us should spilt into groups of 2 and explore the mansion."

"Th-That's a really good idea." Blane told her.

"Shouldn't we explore with everyone, though?" Zenith questioned the group. "I believe all of us should know our surroundings, no?"

"Well, yeah, but they can explore in their own time." Tabitha replied. "But this group gets to explore with a partner!"

The eight of us began to group of and Fawn immediately turned to me as if this were a partner project for school. I glanced around, noticing that Isaiah had yet to find a partner.

"Felix, can we be partners?" Fawn whispered to me.

"You should try to meet someone new," I told Fawn. "We're trapped here with 14 strangers, so we should probably try making some friends."

"I don't think I can." The graynette shook her head. "People are scary."

"Yeah, but not all of them are." I glanced towards the romance novelist. "Why don't you join him? You two got along pretty well yesterday."

Fawn took a few steps towards him, before shakingly turning back to me. She was clenching the ends of her sleeves in her hands, stretching out the fabric ever so slightly.

"You got this." I gave her a double thumbs up. "He doesn't bite."

I watched as Fawn slowly made her way over to Isaiah. She was shaking for a few sentences, but she steadily adjusted to speaking with him. She turned back to me, before walling off to explore with Isaiah.

Now I just need a partner.

"Heya, Alex!" A familiar blonde greeted me.

"It's Felix." I corrected her.

"Pfft, yeah, I know." Tabitha brushed off her mistake. "I was just testing you to see if you had a spine."

Okay...?

"And you passed! Congratulations!" She smiled. "You get to be my partner because I think you're cool—totally not because you were the last one left and Zenith already agreed to explore with boring ol' Rory."

"Heh, alright." I agreed, not wanting to question her. "Where first?"

"Uh, I dunno," Tabitha shrugged, before pulling out her PetalPad. "We could start with the dinning room and kitchen since we're already here. That would save me so much walking."

Tabitha and I began to search the dinning room, but we quickly moved onto the kitchen when we found nothing. After a couple minutes, she pulled out her phone and began posing to take selfies. I didn't mind, since I was used to doing things alone anyways.

It's just the average kitchen tools and food. ...and some concerning sharp kitchen knives.

The pantry doesn't have anything of note either.

"Hey, Felix!" She shouted at me, despite being only a couple feet away. "Wanna take a quick break to look at these cute pics I have saved on my phone?"

"Sure." I agreed.

Tabitha proceeded to show me a folder in her camera roll filled with pictures of various models and pictures of attractive people. I noticed many of the poses they made were the ones she had made when taking selfies.

"I wish I could be this photogenic." She sighed. "I just wanna wake up and look flawless like them."

"They probably don't wake up like that." I pointed out. "They probably spend time doing their hair, makeup, and picking out an outfit."

"But they're do it so perfectly!" Tabitha complained with jealousy. "No wonder I got beat and lost my talent..."

At least you can say that someone else was better than you. I can't even do that.

"Nobody's perfect, Tabitha." I snapped at her.

"Except for me." Tabitha cheerfully argued. "Well, until I lost my talent I was perfect."

That's not what I meant, but she sounds a little happier so I guess it worked.

"How did you even lose your talent, Tabitha?" I questioned her. "From what I can tell, you seem pretty devoted."

"Hehe, well, it's a funny story," She giggled, before stopping herself. "I'll tell you if you my story if you tell me yours."

"Wh-What?" I panicked.

"I'm not like embarrassed or anything, I just don't want to share if you aren't going to share yours too." Tabitha explained.

"Maybe I'll tell you another time," I said, pretending to check the time in my PetalPad. "Let's go back to exploring for now."

Tabitha and I made our way around to the storage closet. I hesitated to go in knowing we didn't have a light source.

"Ack!" Tabitha squeaked, as she ran into me. "Why did you stop walking? I could've broken my nose on the impact of your giant head!"

"We can't go in there." I told her, turning around.

"Why not?" She squinted her eyes at the door.

"It's dark in there and we don't have a light." I pointed out to her.

She stood there like a computer buffering with a bad internet connection. It went on for much longer than I expected and when she finally moved, she started laughing.

"Pfft." She softly snorted, before pulling out her phone. "Did you forget that I'm super famous?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" I sighed.

"Because I'm only as famous as the amount of time I spend on my phone." She replied, pulling out her sparkling pink phone.

It shouldn't have take me this long for me to put that together...

"Oh right!" I remembered, lightly laughing. "I guess I forgot."

"LOL." She smiled, opening the door.

Tabitha shined her phone's flashlight inside the storage room. I kept to close her, but not too close. Everyone was in boxes labeled according to its contents.

"Weapons..." I muttered aloud. "I wonder what's in there."

"Weapons, prolly," The blonde girl answered.

"Sorry. That was rhetorical." I said.

Tabitha didn't reply, she just continued to look around the storage room. There were ropes lying around on the ground, however none of them seemed long enough or thick enough to be useful. Most of the boxes were sealed closed, and aside from the one labeled ''Weapons'' there wasn't much of note in there.

Once we left, the influencer let out a horrific cough.

"Are you okay, Tabitha?" I questioned her, bracing myself just in case.

"I'm great, bestie," She replied, bouncing back upright. "It was like super dusty in there."

It was? I hardly noticed.

"Breaktime!" She announced, shoving her phone in my face. "All the models I showed you earlier were cute, but not the ultimate kinda cute."

"So these people are Ultimates?" I made an inference.

"Yup." She nodded, leaning in close to show me. "These are mostly models, the Ultimate Influencer—influencers before and after me, and just other Ultimates I find attractive."

"Ah." I nodded.

Tabitha kept a steady pace of scrolling through her camera roll. At one point she stopped on a blonde boy with green eyes. He was dressed in a cutesy devil costume with a caption saying ''Happy Halloween''.

"If it were anyone else, I would be hecka salty about whoever managed to become more popular than me." Tabitha stated, starring at the image. "But Logan is such a cutie and I'm A-okay with him with taking my talent."

"So he's the Ultimate Influencer now?" I asked her.

"Yeah." Tabitha nodded in agreement. She scrolled to the next photo. "Oh my gosh! I forgot I had these Roxie pics on my phone!"

"Uh, who's Roxie?" I questioned.

The photo was of a lavender haired woman who wore a black bunny onesie. She sat lying along a bed, the camera was angled oddly, almost as if she had just woken up. The bed however, told a different story as it looked to have never been slept in before; pillows and plushies were neatly arranged, unlike bow it should look when you first wake up.

"This is Roxie." Tabitha stated enthusiastically. "You don't know who Roxie is? RoxieRocks?"

"Sorry, that doesn't ring any bells." I shook my head.

"I must convert you." She mumbled. "But first, let's finish our investigation, shall we?"

"We shall." I replied.

The others are probably done by now.

Tabitha and I made our to the laundry room, where we saw Gabriel just standing around. He eyes widened upon seeing me and Tabitha.

"Your sister isn't exploring with you?" The tennis pro raised an eyebrow.

"I figured it would be good for us to branch out and meet some new people." I explained. "Well, mostly Fawn."

"How'd you know we were exploring, Gavin?" Tabitha questioned him.

"My name isn't Gavin." Grumbled the tennis pro. "And I know because the food tester and the chauffeur were in here a couple minutes ago."

"Silly, Rory," The influencer awkwardly giggled. "Always running their mouth."

"Zenith was the one that told me." Gabriel clarified.

"Oh." Tabitha blinked, seeming to start buffering again.

As Tabitha stood there awkwardly, Gabriel took this opportunity to have a more private conversation with me. Well, as private as a conversation could get in a laundry room.

"You know, you're wearing the same hoodie you wore yesterday." The tennis played pointed out. "Do you not have other outfits?"

Why is that the first thing you notice about me?

"I do, but the other two are just shirts with no hoodie." I explained. "I decided to just rewear it."

"Hm. Okay." Gabriel shrugged.

"Plus, it doesn't really matter that much." I tried to explain myself. "With three outfits to cycle through, you'll pretty much have to do laundry every other day."

"Yeah. I guess so." He glanced towards the washing machines. "Have you ever done laundry before?"

"Uh, yes?" I answered. "Have you not?"

"Only towels." He admitted. "Even when I was old enough, my parents always insisted that my sister and I focus on our sports."

"You have a sister?" I inquired.

"Uh..." He choked up once he realized what he had said. "She's important now so we don't talk alot."

What's that supposed to mean?

Before I could press Gabriel with any further questions, Tabitha pulled me away from the conversation. Literally.

"What are you doing?" I asked as she weakly tugged on my arm.

"There's literally nothing in here worth our time." Explained the blonde. "I doubt anyone is gonna die from laundry soap."

I didn't feel like arguing with her, starting conflict never goes well for me, so I stayed silent. We moved onto the final room, the game room. That room was pretty self explanatory—the other five of the explorers were relaxing by a card game together.

Wait, five?

"Where did Fawn go?" I asked the group, not seeing my sister.

"She said she was going to her room instead of joining us," Isaiah recalled for me.

Of course. I should have expected that.

"Thanks for letting me know." I thanked him.

"Will you being joining us?" Quartz questioned me. "Blane is in the lead."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Rory dramatically drew a card. "Damnit! Why do I always draw blues?!"

"Not right now." I sadly denied. "Sometime, soon though."

"We'll see you then." Zenith smiled at me.

"Will you be joining us, Tabi?" I heard Quartz ask as I walked out.

"Naturally." The influencer replied.

Leaving the group, I ventured down the hallway. On my way to my sister's room I ran into a familiar bluenette with a fluffy microphone.

"Why do I always run into you outside of my sister's room?" I asked, trying to get past. However, Nora mirrored my movements and blocked me from passing.

"It's only second time it's happened." Nora echoed, before sticking her microphone in my face. "What would you say is the most common reason the other participants have lost their talents?"

"Wh-What?" I blinked. "Why do you need an answer from me?"

"I need an answer from everyone." The bluenette replied. "If you get it right, I'll move out of your way."

I guess I have no choice but to play her little guessing game.

What is the most common reason participants have lost their talents?

a). Authoritative punishment.

b). Injuries or medical conditions.

c). Lack of skill.

"Injury and conditions prevent them from doing their talent, allowing someone else to surpass them." I answered, getting an odd excitement boost from how intelligent my answer sounded.

"Ding ding ding!" The former game show host cheered, stepping aside. "Based on the people you've talked too, that's the correct answer."

Correct Answer: b). Injuries or medical conditions.

"So the answer changes depending on who has talked to who so far?" I inquired. "How the hell do you even know that stuff?!"

"I'm your host." She simply answered. "If I wasn't omniscient and all knowing that would humanize me way too much."

She dodged the question.

"Everyone knows that game show hosts aren't human." Nora's voice echoed in her microphone as she slowly backwards walked away.

Game show hosts are kinda... off. But does that doesn't literally dehumanize them, does it?

Putting my interaction with Nora in the back of my mind, I knocked on Fawn's door. The door opened instantly.

"How did it go with Isaiah?" I asked her.

"We didn't find much," My sister responded.

"Was he nice?" I curiously questioned. "What did you two talk about? Do you wanna hang out again with again tomorrow?"

"I guess?" Fawn shrugged. "We mostly talked about how we channel our creativity."

"And? Are you two gonna hang out again tomorrow?" I repeated myself, sounding like an excited parent.

"No, why would we?" She shook her head.

"Aww, come on," I frowned. "You need to make some friends. Everyone here is relatively nice."

"I don't need to make friends." She argued. "I can just hang out with you."

She isn't picking up on my hint.

"Listen, Fawn," I said. "We're probably going to be here for a while before we get rescued. We need to make the most of our time here."

"How?" The gray haired girl asked.

"You should try talking to people. There are a few people here I think you'd get along with." I recommend to my sister.

"But... I'm scared." She admitted, pulled her beanie down. "What if I say the wrong thing or I just stand there frozen and unable to move? I can't carry a spoken conversation without your help."

"Then I'll help you." I said.

"How are you going to help me talk to people if you do all the talking for me?" She asked, confused.

"Each day we'll talk to someone you wouldn't normally approach." I began to say.

"That's everyone, Felix." Fawn frowned, hopeless hanging her head.

"Well... The people your scared to approach." I reword my former statement. "I'll be there with you, so you won't be as scared. Each day, I'll do less and less talking until you can have a conversation without me saying anything. And then we'll move onto me not being in the room with you."

"How long is this going to take?" She asked.

"As long as it needs to. I wanna make sure you can make friends by yourself for when we get out of here." I told her.

If I can't get my talent back, I'm going to need to move on with my life. ...as different as that will be.

"Right..." Fawn turned away. "I guess we'll talk to Vanessa tomorrow. She rather intimidating–"

"Tomorrow?" I laughed. "It starts now."

"Wait, but–" My sister tried to argue, but I simply tugging in her arm to guide her down the halls. "I can't do it today!"

"You gotta take initiative for once, Fawn!" I smiled, my sister dreading every second.

It didn't take long to find Vanessa. She was in the dinning room eating a sandwich.

That reminds me. I haven't eaten lunch yet. I doubt Fawn has either.

"I'm gonna make up some lunch while you talk to Vanessa." I told my sister, going to the kitchen.

"What do I talk to her about?!" Fawn frantically questioned me.

"I dunno." I shrugged. "Whatever athlete like to talk about."

I began making some mac and cheese for my sister and I, listening closely to everything that went on in the dinning room. After a minute or so I heard voices talking. Well, a voice talking.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa asked.

"Mhm." She nodded.

"You've been standing there awhile." The brunette pointed out. "Did your muscles cramp preventing you from moving?"

"Uhh..." My sister seemed to freeze.

"Don't worry, Felix's sister!" The track star announced. "In high school I would give the rest of my track team massages when their muscles cramped."

There was no response from my sister.

Maybe I should check on her?

No!

She's got it covered. Fawn's an adult who can held herself when offer a massage.

"W-Wait!" Fawn exclaimed in a panic. "My muscles aren't cramped and I'm just scared of you!"

Silence.

Maybe now...?

"You seem kinda tense, girl." Calmly replied the athlete. "Wanna talk after a shoulder massage?"

"Sure." My sister agreed.

...

I heard Vanessa and Fawn talk more, though it was mostly Vanessa doing the talking. She didn't seem to mind my sister's awkwardness, which was nice.

"I usually just push through the cramps," I heard Fawn say as I walked into the dinning room.

"That's horrible." Vanessa shook her hand. "You gotta take a break. Or at least ice your hand before you keep drawing."

"I always feel too busy to stop working, though," My sister admitted. "I do so many commissions in one day, all of my time goes towards working."

"How much do you work?" Curiously the female brunette.

"8-10 hours of commissions." Replied my sister. "About 4 hours for my comic. And then if I'm not too tired I'll spend an hour or 2 on my personal art."

"16 hours of just drawing?!" Vanessa let out an inhumane gasp.

"Uhh... I-I was the Ultimate Digit Artist at one point..." My sister nervously replied.

"You really need to take a break." The track star advised. "Pushing yourself only makes falling down worse."

My sister didn't reply.

"I made us mac and cheese." I announced, handing my sister a fork and spoon. "There's plenty for you if you want some, Vanessa."

"Nah, I'm good," She politely declined. "I've already had my maximum of dairy for the day. Thanks for offering, though."

Vanessa left and my sister's nerves eased. As we dug into our late lunch, I decided to quiz my sister about her conversation.

"That wasn't so bad, right?" I inquired.

"Once we got into it, but the starting the conversation was so hard." Fawn answered. "Especially with someone I barely know."

"But you did it," I praised her. "And you got a free massage."

"I guess I did, didn't I?" She smiled, nearly dropping her fork. "Vanessa gives great massages, by the way."

"Planning to get another one tomorrow?" I teased.

Her face grew red and she shoveled food into mouth so she didn't have to answer.

"I think I'm gonna draw in my room until I get tired." Fawn stated once she had emptied her mac and cheese bowl. "Goodnight, Felix. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Fawn," I waved to her. "Don't stay up too late!"

After cleaning up from lunch, I decided to hang out with someone before nighttime. I wanted to hang with someone I hadn't talked with much, so I when I saw Skyler in the hallway, I stopped them.

"What do you want?" They asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I wanna hang out with you." I stated. "Watcha up to?"

"I wanted to play some video games now that those Monopoly nerds have cleared out of the game room." They replied. "You're cool, I guess. You can join me."

I joined Skyler in the game and we played some video games. I let them pick since video games aren't really my field of expertise.

"You suck." They sighed, leaning back onto the couch. "It's you've never played a video game before in your life."

...it's a lot harder than gamer's make it look.

"I'm just not that good," I chuckled awkwardly.

Skyler doesn't need to this my first time.

"I guess not everyone is as skilled as me." Skyler boasted.

"Heh, yeah." I agreed, setting my controller aside.

"Speaking of skill," They looked to me. "How did you lose your talent? Did you get really unlucky and the scouts decided that you you weren't fit to the be the Ultimate Lucky Student or something?"

It's much more surface level than you think.

"Or something." I mumbled in annoyance.

"Well–" They tried to pressed on, but I stopped them.

"I don't want talk about it." I said.

"Okay," They set their controller aside, and turned to me. "What do you wanna talk about them?"

"Not myself." I quickly said. "How about you tell me about you?"

"Like what?" Skyler pulled their feet up to sit with their legs crisscrossed on the couch. "That's a pretty vague topic?"

"Are you comfortable telling me about your talent?" I questioned them.

"Yeah, sure." The hacker nodded. "I obviously can't disclose what I do for work, but I can tell you how I ended going into the hacking profession."

Okay. I won't question that.

"It all started in my college programming class." They began to tell their story. "Everyone in the class had the same level of skill; the teacher was looking for the people with the most creativity behind their assignments, not who could write code the best."

College programming class? Sounds fun.

"After almost every assignment, I would hear the teacher compliment and praise people for their creativity in their creations. But never me." They sighed.

"Why not?" I tilted my head in puzzlement.

"Because I'm not creative. I never have been." Skyler frowned, before poking at their mesh gloves. "I guess some people have more active imaginations than others. And I was never one of those people. Ideas never came naturally to me and it set me apart from my programming peers."

"So how did that lead to you becoming a hacker?" I questioned.

"I kinda got tired of programming because of had much my scripts lacked substance. I felt like they could be so much better, but I never knew how I could make them give off the extra sparkle I wanted them to have." Skyler continued with their story. "But I enjoyed hacking. It come naturally to me and it never falls out of a formula."

"Wow," I sat flabbergasted at their story. "That's really inspiring."

"And then I started taking on the more unethical hacking as a career." They laughed, killing the inspirational mood. "You know, people pay a whole lot more for services that are illegal."

Oh, right. I forgot they were also a criminal of some sort.

*ding dong, bing bong*

"It is now 10 pm. Sweet dreams talentless losers!"

Talentless loser...

"Hey, Felix," Skyler stood up and cracked their fingers. "Wanna play again tomorrow? I might get Zenith to join us next time."

"Yeah. That'll be fun." I agreed.

I parted with the hacker and went to my room. I slipped off hoodie and crawled under the cover. Despite everything, I managed to keep the news of the killing game in the back of my mind as I fell asleep.

I'm feeling pretty lucky here.

_____

Author Note:

Would you rather have mac and cheese or pancakes to eat for dinner?