What were the chances that one of the contestants would pick their own number? 1 in 25 chances. One divided by twenty five was .04: the percentage would be a lowly 4%. What did it mean if you picked your own number? Well, one would think that you would either get off scot-free, and just be allowed to keep your tag for a total of six points, or you would have to pick again, causing all of the people on the boat to redraw because they had already looked at what number their target was. She didn't tell anyone, no, not when there was a chance that the next week could be spent in relative relaxation, but of course, somehow, someway, the administration noticed.

"Would 144 please report to the hull of the ship? Thank you." The loudspeaker had a tinny quality to it, though the Hunter association had more than enough money to buy better speakers. If you leaned against the wall right below it, you could even feel the vibrations.

Nova had been halfway to getting to Gon and Killua, wanting to hear about their adventures in Trick Tower to get her mind off the terrible experience that she thought she would refer to as the 'most hellish part of the exam' when she looked back at these memories. Somebody was out to get her though, and now the fourth phase of the Hunter Exam had been made even harder.

'It's a highly unusual circumstance that somebody picks their own number," Netero said, brushing his beard with his fingertips. The grey tip at the end made Nova wonder whether he used the pointy end as a brush sometimes, when he couldn't find a proper writing utensil. "And so, we decided that we will give you two choices. Your tag may be worth six points," Yes, that was what she wanted, please, that would make her life so much easier, "However, that would mean that we would have to notify everybody else aboard this vessel that your tag would be worth 6 points, with the additional stipulation that you would be let out of the boat last instead of fourth. There has also been a request that since it is seen as an easier task to defend one's own badge rather than grab another's, that your tag would be modified to emit beeping noises for an hour every day."

Okay, maybe that wouldn't make her life easier. Her eyes darted around the room, not wanting Netero to find any kind of response in her eyes before she was completely ready to decide. It was a quaint little room, one that she would expect aboard a normal ship. The only difference was the large banner on the wall that had the Hunter Association's logo on it, and a few odd books that had the same aura that people did.

"Second option is for a different task to be prepared." Netero was standing next to the window, looking at her from the corners of his eyes. Her hands were trembling, eyes downcast, lips pressed together. She refused to look him in the eyes, though he wasn't expecting as much anyways. His nen output had been increasing ever since he began to speak, but it was clear now that this girl would not back down.

It was sad though, because there was no defiance in her eyes, no fiery hope like Gon's, no burning gaze of hatred like Killua's, but an overwhelming feeling of defeat. Despite all of that, she did not make any move to step away from him, and to be honest, he was expecting a reaction like Killua's when his nen felt malicious and he jumped away. Just like every other person who was taking the exam this year, he had a file on her. It had been harder to find information about her, due to the fact that she did not give her last name, and even once he knew, it was difficult to discover anything more, because the Arsenios never claimed to have a daughter.

The Arsenios had been dead for nearly twelve years now. The girl, already shattered, who shook behind him was indeed their daughter. There was no other logical explanation for how the chain of events in her life had happened. A side branch of the Arsenio family had been visiting to celebrate the expecting mother, an admired hunter. The father was supposed to tell her so she could realize the responsibility that they beared by having a child- together. It never should have happened.

"If you choose the second task, it would be to undergo training with all of the hunters that have appeared in the exam so far. By the end of the week… you would have to force one of them to cry out 'mercy'. If you're not able to do that, you can't pass." What a cruel man Netero was. He knew well what would happen if he trained her like this, and yet he proposed it anyways. She still had a choice, he told himself as he guiltily fiddled with the tip of his beard. She always had a choice.

But then, she didn't, because she was a logical, rational person. If she decided to go to the island and have her badge be worth 6 points, there was no doubt in her mind that alliances would be formed to attack her, and she knew she wasn't strong enough or prepared enough to face that. She shuddered to think about Gittarackur or Hisoka trying to get her tag, and her mind had been set. If she had a week to make just one of them call mercy… In her mind, she recalled all of the times that she had wanted to cry out that hated, most disgusting word.

By the end of the week, she was sure that she could make at least one of them cry the word out, even if it took all of the prior knowledge of pain. The pressure on her body increased, but she had stopped shaking now. She locked eyes with Netero, who had turned to face her and raised two fingers.

Netero smiled at her, and her fate was sealed. "You can go see your friends. They will call your name out to go on the island fourth, and as soon as you get on the island, climb on top of the tallest tree you can find. Somebody will come to get you." She nodded and turned to reach for the door knob. He called her back. "And Nova, I'd advise you to not tell anybody about this. Tell them a random number who is still here, and let them believe that you'll be doing the same thing that they are. There's no reason to let them know that you're different."

She did not nod her confirmation and turned the door handle so she could walk out and slam the door. Netero didn't mind, because he was sure that she would make the right choice, because she was a logical person.

"Killua," Gon nudged his best friend, looking up at Nova's slight figure walking down the hallway. "I wonder whose number she got." He tugged on his sleeve to pull him in her direction. There was a need to pull him, because he obstinately stuck his feet to the floor, making himself heavier so he could not be moved.

Killua realized that allowing himself friends was forbidden. All of of the blood he had spilled, he should not be allowed to touch such pure creatures with his two hands. Gon was so pure, so innocent, that he allowed himself to think that if he kept himself around him, he would be able to pull himself out of the darkness. And as much as he wanted to be a twelve year old with him, to be friends, he could not.

With Nova, he could not convince himself to believe that she was light enough to pull himself out. She was broken, but she managed to hold herself together like he could not bear to. She had seen some of the horrors that this world had to offer, and she turned the other cheek. He could not allow himself to frag somebody so strong down. It would be a cardinal offense, a sin worse than all of the assassinations he had done in his short life time.

Gon stopped tugging on his sleeve because Nova was already upon them, broken smile on her face. In the back of his mind, Killua wondered what she had been called to the hll for, but Gon asked his question, so he could not. "Why were you called to the hull?"

Her face transformed into the face that he had seen for a few moments in the tunnel in the first phase. It was fear masked by indifference, but Killua did not know that. Killua thought she was shutting herself down because of him. The moment his eyes had met hers in the tunnel, there was fear swimming in them. Instead of facing his fears, the white-haired boy jammed his hands in his pockets and turned to the side so he could not look directly at Gon's blinding goodness, or the silent strength that Nova spread.

So much pain- So much pain in those eyes. It cut him worse than any blade laced with poison that he had faced. It hurt worse than when Illumi had made him watch as he tortured Kalluto, hurt worse than when he had to take the whip up himself. A pang went through his heart as he imagine Alluka's heart-broken face when she discovered that he had left her in that cold place that was not a home. For a moment, he looked at Nova, and her face blurred with Alluka's, even though they looked practically nothing alike.

He couldn't bear to let either one of them down, and he resolved that by the end of the Hunter Exam, he would make Nova smile more, and he would retrieve Alluka from the Zoldyck estate, so she could be happy. They deserved more happiness than he did, the selfish person that didn't think of how his actions would hurt others.

Already, he had started to walk away, hands clenched like his heart when he heard Nova nearly tackle Gon. They deserved love, not a heartless killer like him. He glanced back, eyes shining, a sense of bittersweet irony filling him. He never liked pain, not any kind of it. Yet somehow, he couldn't help but be happy when Nova's teary-eyed gaze and upwards turning lips were focused on Gon, and Gon alone. He did not expect them to notice that he was gone-

"Killua!" Gon reached his hand out. As long as they wante him there, he could not refuse. His heart wouldn't let him, stunted and twisted as it was.

#

"144," a person said, "is the fourth to leave the ship." Fourth to arrive to the bottom, fourth to leave, number 144- the first to leave the island.

She ran as fast as her legs would let her, racing against the winds that were constantly getting faster, pushing against her. She felt eyes on her, Hisoka's and Gittarackur's. They were predators, waiting for their prey to come along. They were smart, intelligent, and well-trained. She raced past them, and all they felt was the wind. It was a foreign feeling, but at the same time, familiar.

She had never run from her problems before this year, but now it seemed that she was constantly on the run. It made her feel weak, unworthy. This time, though, somebody else had requested this of her, so it was not he fault, not her choice(oh, but it always was, she could have chosen the different path), nobody could blame her.

With each step, her already dirty sneakers sunk further and further into the dirt, making it harder to move on. It took twice as much energy to get her feet up to run than it usually would, and she thanked the stars above for letting her have the common sense to train with weights to give her an advantage during times like these. She climbed up exactly one tree s far, so she could have an estimation of where the tallest tree was. Right now, she was only seventy percent sure that she was going in the right direction, but she didn't want to waste more time trying to climb a tree and failing when she should already be at her destination.

Instinct made her climb a tree anyways, when a dark pressure around her increased. Higher ground is an advantage, words that she found in many books on strategies that she read once she escaped from the Arsenio Castle. The tallest tree in the area was ten trees away from her, but the branches of the trees surrounding her looked to fragile to risk jumping from limb to limb; she did not want to try and fail on her first attempt, plummeting to the ground faster than a rock would. As it stood now, there were scrapes all over her elbows and hands from falling off the first tree she tried to climb.

Not very delicately, she jumped off the tree once she climbed down to a height that would not harm her too much, if she fell. Nova did not like trees very much; she didn't like the sticks and bark that they produced either. When she dropped to the floor, a thousand things snapped all at once as she cringed, the silence of her surroundings broken. Being silent was top on her list, and she definitely was not managing that very well. All she wanted to do was get to a tree not more than ten yards away, but she had to do something stupid like this.

She was prey now. Her eyes darted up, and she found herself staring into the eyes of Hisoka. "Nova~ What a surprise to find you here~" His voice was so creepy, every atom in her body told her to flee. That pressure he exerted made her stay, such a contradictory thing she wanted laugh at the same time she cried. It was the aura he gave off that made her want to flee, but her mind processed it a different way; she wanted to stay and watch.

"Where are you running off to? It seems as though you have a goal in mind~" Hisoka hit the nail on the head, but Nova did not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right. Then, because Hisoka was a pair, there are always two Jokers in a deck- Gittarackur came into the cramped clearing that was not larger than a few trees that were cut down. The yellow pins in his head made nova's stomach turn. It didn't look right, and she remembered the pretty, feminine creature that he had been on the airship. This wasn't him, this was a disguise.

"Oh? It looks like somebody has discovered your disguise, Illumi~" That was his name, not Gittarackur. Balls of feet the only part of her body on the floor, all of her muscles tensed when Illumi looked at her, with dead eyes. More scary than Hisoka, more scary than anything she had faced in her life so far, though there wasn't much to speak of for her life. She wasn't fast or strong enough to get away from that, she knew that from their stances. They stood, self-assured; confident, each subtle movement screaming of strength and training.

Why did she go to the Hunter Exam again?

Overhead, a helicopter flew. Yes, that was right, she went to the Hunter Exam to find Ging, to find Gon, to see the world. She would not be stopped here, no matter how strong they were. The tale of the Lion and the Mouse told her that she would be able to achieve much greater things that any innately strong person if she just thought. She had a good mind, or so she liked to think. All she needed to do was get to the top of the tallest tree. That was it, nothing more and nothing less.

It was a flash, a burst, and Nova did not know what she did, and she did not think she could duplicate it again. It was similar to a series of lucky events, all happening one after another, but influenced by her. A tree fell into the clearing they were in, and it brought up a cloud of dust. It was loud, too loud, and her ears started to ring. This was the opportunity she had wanted though, the one she needed.

She took one step, and then another, and another, and then jumped. Nova made it halfway up the top of the tallest tree, and then she began to climb, just as Hisoka and Illumi became aware of where she was. She reached her hand up and missed; a pin went through the place where she was going to put her hand. She stood on a breaking branch and pushed. The branch fell down and hit something, perhaps someone. No more needles came flying at her.

Then, she was safe in the embrace of rope. Her body relaxed, but only just slightly. "That was a good escape, 144. I'm surprised that you escaped 307 and 44."

44 hadn't participate, no, she knew that if he did, she would be still on the ground, lying prostrate, begging to live, begging to see the rest of the world. She knew that Illumi hadn't truly tried, because if he(she?) had, then she would be dead, a needle imbedded in her hand and poison coursing through her veins. Nova did not know if Illumi underestimated her, or if he had chosen to let her go. She did not care to know either.

"Well, we'll be heading off to the hunter Association Headquarters. That's where your testing will begin. We suggest you get some rest now, because after this, you're not going to be getting any." She followed the man's advice, not particularly caring that the blonde man had not been one of her proctors. Her heart was heavy and her legs were tired.

Her sleep was so deep that she did not feel the menacing pressures sent her way, before they were silenced by another, kinder one that enveloped her body subconsciously. The blonde man smiled. This one would be fun to train.

RIP finals

RIP life

just RIP

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