Cross stared at the mountain in front of him. He raised a browbone before glancing at the actual school building next to him.

"So, you're telling me that we aren't studying in the actual school building, but a random building on this mountain instead?" Chara looked really unimpressed, annoyed even.

"At least we finally get to go to a school," Cross mumbled. His fingers were wrapped around the heart locket hanging from his neck.

"Yeah and you probably won't make it out alive," Chara scoffed, rolling their eyes.

"I will, you'll see. I have enough time left," he promised. He wasn't about to give up, even if his whole life was just running.

"Why did we even get thrown to this special class 3-E?" Chara inquired as Cross stared climbing up the path.

"I have bad grades, probably the worst student in the whole school. It's no surprise that they threw me here," he hummed, looking around the woods surrounding them.

"Hey! Wait up!" someone called from behind. Cross stopped and turned around. After him was running a skeleton with blue hoodie and a target shaped SOUL. There was black liquid staining his face.

"Are ya new 'ere? I haven't seen ya before!" they started to speak once reaching him. "You're in class 3-E as well, ain't ya?" they tilted their head.

"Yeah," Cross nodded. "My name's Cross, and I just moved here. Do you know where the class 3-E is?"

"Yep! It's up this path! I can take ya there," they grinned before starting to lead the way. "Name's Killer," they continued.

"What is this class 3-E exactly?" Cross had to ask. He didn't know how schools exactly worked, but having one class isolated from everyone else sounded a bit off.

"Ah, 's a class where the worst students were thrown. This school has a good reputation, we can't ruin that, so we'll study 'ere instead," Killer explained, gesturing towards the top of the mountain.

"How many people are on this class?" the monochrome skeleton inquired.

"I think 18 now," Killer shrugged. "And apparently we'll be getting a new teacher as well," he added.

"Is that our school building?" Cross asked, pointing at the small building before their eyesockets.

"Yeah, that's where we study," Killer hummed.

"Kills!" a soft and energetic voice called out. A skeleton with an apron around their waist rushed towards them with a kind smile on their teeth.

"Hey Ccino! I found one of our new students!" Killer wrapped his arms around the other. "Cross, this is Ccino. Ccino, this is Cross," he introduced them.

"Nice to meet you!" Ccino smiled to him, Cross repeated it after him, smiling back.

"Hey! Welcome to class 3-E! I'm the class president Dream! It's nice to have some new faces here!" a skeleton wearing bright yellow clothes rushed to them.

"I'm Cross," the monochrome skeleton introduced himself again.

"I would love to speak more, but everyone is supposed to move to the classroom now," Dream explained with an apologising smile before rushing off to another group of skeletons.

"Well, let's go inside them," Ccino hummed, taking Killer's hand and gesturing for Cross to follow after them.

-----

     "What we're about to tell is government's secret information and shall not be told anyone else." That was not how Cross had expected the class to start with. And what the hell was the yellow creature between the two government dudes.

"This is your new teacher. He's the one who destroyed 70% of the Moon and will be destroying the Earth in a year. That's why you have to kill him."

"What?" Dream exclaimed, eyelights wide.

"Please do not interrupt us. As I said: your job is to kill this creature that moves at Mach 20 speed and is impossible to kill. If you do so, you will receive ten billion yen from the government. Killing him will happen using these weapons."

They pulled out a box of green knifes among with real looking guns and pink bullets. Cross felt his spine shiver. He had in fact used guns and knifes before, so this wasn't anything new to him, but this was supposed to be a school. This wasn't quite what he had expected.

"These knives and bullets will only do harm to this creature. Your safety is important to us." The government guy picked up a knife and demonstrated it. It looked like a flexible plastic knife.

"So our job is to kill that thing?" a skeleton wearing a black cloak raised a browbone.

"Yes, but you have to keep in mind that he dodges everything."

Bang!

The teacher moved out of the way of the bullet with ease. Everyone gasped. Cross couldn't understand how he had done that. Chara seemed surprised too.

Cross looked behind him from the corner of his eye socket. He sent his unspoken question to a familiar skeleton behind him. The other skeleton shook his skull.

"So that's not a demon," Chara groaned. "Then what the hell is it?" They floated near the teacher, examining him.

"You all have to remember that this is top secret government information and you shall not tell it forwards to anyone outside of this class."

Everyone was looking at each other, hesitant and confused. It was enough to tell Cross that this wasn't what school was supposed to be.

-----

     The government people left and the weird octopus teacher started the lesson. Every one of the students had received their weapons.

The teacher chuckled, looking at his new class, grinning widely. "This mission will not be easy and it requires you to work as a team. You have to come up with different plans. I'm really forward to it. I really hope that you can kill me!"

"Can we do that now?" asked a confused-looking skeleton with changing eyelights.

"You can do it wherever you want to!" the teacher hummed, "As long as it doesn't interrupt the lessons. You're all here to learn after all!"

"Let's do a small practice! I will do a roll-call and when I call out your name, I want you to shoot me!" A wide grin spread on the teacher's face. People were gasping in shock.

"Let's get started! Ink Comyet?"

The skeleton with changing eyelights froze, hesitatedly standing up and raising his gun. The gun was shaking a bit in his hands. Then he pulled the trigger. The teacher dodged with no problem.

"Good job Ink! A bit more confidence and you'll succeed!" the teacher complimented as Ink fell back on his chair.

"Lust Hearts."

Lust stood up, pointing the gun and immediately pulling the trigger. There was no hesitation, no fear. Even the teacher seemed a bit surprised, but he dodged the bullet.

"That was a really clear shot! Too bad I'm faster!" he chuckled as Lust sat down with a tsk. Cross could sense his confusion.

"Dream Joku."

Dream stood up, looking at the teacher with worry and hesitance in his eyelights. The teacher gave him an encouraging nod. Dream swallowed and slowly raised the gun. He stood steady and pulled the trigger. It missed. Dream sighed in relief and sat back down.

"Don't be afraid to kill me. Killing me will save the world," the teacher reminded him. Dream still looked a bit uneasy.

"Dust Murder."

A skeleton with red scarf and hoodie similar to Killer stood up. He glanced at the gun before raising it and shooting carelessly. The bullet was easily dodged.

"A confident, but careless shot. Next time focus. You want to kill me, don't you?" Dust scoffed and sat back down.

"Ccino Nyanko."

Ccino's eyelights widened in horror. He picked the gun up carefully, hands shaking, and shot. The bullet would have missed without the teacher dodging, but he moved on the crossfire just to dodge it.

"You too need more confidence Ccino! Just calm yourself and focus!" Ccino fell on his seat. Next to him Killer caressed his hand.

"Cross Peña–"

Bang!

Before the teacher could finish calling out his name Cross had stood up and shot his gun. No hesitation, no fear, no regret. His intention was to kill. But yet the teacher dodged.

He chuckled, seeming actually surprised by this. "You almost caught me off guard with that! It was good shot and would have hit if I didn't move at Mach 20!"

Cross furrowed his browbones and sat back down. Chara was having a rage fit, screaming at the teacher – who could obviously hear them – about how the shot shouldn't have missed. From the corner of his eye socket he met Lust's gaze.

"Error Queen."

A black boned skeleton stood up, clearly a bit uncomfortable. He aimed the gun, squinting his eye sockets before shooting.

"Next time put your glasses on and you might hit!" the teacher chuckled. Error went bright blue and hid behind his scarf.

"Fresh Queen."

A 90s nightmare looking skeleton stood up. He tilted his head, glancing at the gun. He raised the gun and shot it.

"Just aiming isn't enough. Your goal needs to be killing me!"

"Geno Queen."

A skeleton with a bleeding wound in his chest stood up, frowning. He examined the gun and looked back at the teacher who nodded. He took a deep breath before hesitatedly aiming and pulling the trigger.

"More confidence," the teacher reminded.

"Killer Rahafwabas."

Killer stood up. He stood steady, but his aiming was a bit poor. He had confidence, but not in shooting.

"Ah, there's the confidence, but you just aren't used to guns. Don't worry, you'll all get good practice here!"

"Reaper Renrink."

The cloaked skeleton stood up, raising a browbone at the gun. Without thinking much he raised it and shot.

"You're missing the right motive. Remember: your job is to kill me!" the teacher reminded him.

"You've said that so many fucking times!" Chara exclaimed, still in the middle of his rage fit.

"Horror SourApple."

A skeleton with a hole in his head stood up. He seemed a bit confused, taking a look around.

"Aim at me and shoot," the teacher encouraged.

Horror raised the gun, tilting his head. He pulled the trigger, not really aiming. Still the teacher moved to the way just to move out again.

"You too seem to be a bit unfamiliar with guns. A bit of practice and you'll know how to do it!"

"Blue Swap."

A skeleton dressed in blue stood up. His eyelights were widened in horror. His hand was shaking as he aimed the gun. The bullet completely missed, but once again the teacher moved toward it.

"What the fuck is he even doing?"

"You too need to calm and focus, remember your motives. Remember that you're trying to save the world."

"Outer Twomi."

A skeleton in a yellow and blue hoodie stood up. He looked at his friend hesitatedly before slowly raising the gun and shooting.

The teacher went on about the same things again, Cross tuned it out, wrapping his fingers around the heart locket. He felt a gaze burning his back. Slowly he dropped his hand.

"Epic Yugogeer."

A skeleton in a purple hoodie picked up his gun and aimed it. Once again the teacher shared some advice. Cross had grown tired of listening.

"Color Youmna."

Oh, that was Outer's friend. They looked at each other again. He shot as hesitatedly as Outer and got the same lecture.

"Ace Xtha."

A skeleton with a top hat stood up. All his moves were confident. He shot well, but didn't hit as the teacher dodged.

"Great shot, just remember your motives!" the teacher reminded, again. "And now that's out of the way and we can move onto the actual lesson!"

-----

     The lesson was actually pretty interesting. The teacher knew how to make the subject understandable and answered everyone's questions. He even helped multiple students at the exact same time while moving faster than anyone could see.

They reached the lunch break and the teacher announced that he would be going to buy his lunch from China. And the he just flew off.

Cross sat on the stairs in front of the building. Everyone was eating outside as the weather was nice. His hand kept reaching for the locket.

A hand landed on his shoulder. "Don't," a soft voice warned. He didn't need to turn around to know who was behind him.

"Could it work?" Cross asked quietly, glancing at Lust.

"I don't know, it's not worth it," the other answered quietly. "Hey, don't eat alone, come with me!" he continued, quickly changing his tone and the topic.

-----

     "I can't believe that we're studying on a mountain with the goal to kill our teacher!" Dream cried out, still in complete shock.

"Hey, this could be actually pretty fun!" Killer tried to encourage. "How many other people have gotten a chance like this?"

"But I don't like the idea of killing someone.." Dream mumbled.

"Darling, our job is to save the world. Killing someone to save everyone else is different than killing someone with no reason. It's for everyone's good," Lust hummed, rubbing circles in Dream's back.

"Why the hell does the government want a bunch of teenagers to kill a creature that will destroy the whole world?" Geno asked, frowning.

"Well, maybe we can finally do somethin' to make us actually important," Killer shrugged. Everyone fell silent at that.

Soon the bell rang. The teacher landed back on the school ground with an air missile in his hands. Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded.

"On my way back the airforce tried to shoot me," he chuckled, walking inside with the air missile still in hands.

"What the actual fuck have we gotten ourselves into?" Chara cried out.

Words: 2286

[1.1.2023]

So, I started a new Sanscest book– I didn't quite know how to start it, but I promise that I have better plot ideas once it actually gets started.