Gale had slept for most of the preparations. She knew they had packed the latest technology into her bag, some of her favorite instruments, and some food, but that was the extent of her knowledge. She briefly wondered if they had packed her staff, although that was a silly thought. It was semi-sentient. It would follow her even if they hadn't packed it. She had woken up briefly, in between being transferred from one wheelchair to another, to find herself at a noodle shop?

She didn't care much about it, and minutes later she found herself in the hunter's exam. A talking bean greets her when she exits the elevator, and she only vaguely payed attention to the speech he gave. Is he a guy with an odd resemblance to a bean, or a self-aware bean, she wondered to herself, staring at the pin he had given her somewhere during the speech. 384, it read. She willed the wind to push her wheelchair farther into the crowd.

"Hey little lady." A voice called out to her. She made her wheelchair spin to the direction of the voice, finding a chubby, friendly looking man standing in front of her

"You're a rookie, aren't you? I'm Tompa, I'm kind of a veteran here." He said, smiling. She shot him a quizzical look, and a feeling of unease shot through her.

She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice was weak and soft due to illness. She couldn't have him think she was weak, although he probably already thought that, seeing as she was in a wheelchair. She needed to ditch it somewhere, maybe there would be an easy way to do it now that her personal guard wasn't with her.

She brought her mind out of her tangent, her eyes focusing again on the man who stood in front of her. He seemed a little uneasy with the way she had been staring at him moments before, but he didn't comment on it. She reached into her bag, finding a notepad and pencil, and wrote him a message.

How do you know I'm a rookie?

"Like I said before, I'm a bit of a veteran around here. I've taken the test at least thirty times." He told her proudly, smiling. The feeling of unease hadn't left her, but she decided there was no harm in talking to him, seeing how many times he had failed.

I'm Gale. She wrote, giving him a small smile. It would be easier to earn his trust this way, although trust seemed to be something he was very willing to give.

"Its good to know your name. So would you like to toast to our new friendship." He said, offering a can of orange juice to her.

She wouldn't consider him a friend, not yet, probably not ever. But she was parched, and she would easily be able to tell if he had tampered with the liquid. No matter how tasteless the poison in the drink, water would never lie to her.

She gave him a look to show her suspicions, before shrugging and accepting the drink. She brought it to her lips, but before drinking she asked the water a question.

Are you what he says you are?

The answer was a quick, definitive no. There were images of people in the bathroom, and Tompa adding laxative to the drink. She dropped the can like it was poison, and glared at him.

He must have been one of those people who liked crushing rookies. He tried to trick her. She hastily stood up from her wheelchair, and growled lowly. He realized his mistake and quickly rushed into the crowd, where she lost sight of him before she could enact justice. She sat back down, brooding over her lost opportunity.

She dosed off, waking up to the sounds of screams. Flower petals were flying about, red cherry blossoms. The exact shade of blood. She moved her chair closer to the noise, only to find a clown standing in front of the screaming man, smiling.

"Its bad manners to bump into someone and not apologize." He reprimanded. She made a mental note to avoid number 44.

A grey hood flashed in her peripheral vision, and she whipped around to look for the source. They wouldn't have sent her too, right. She was doomed if they had. Totally doomed.

After everything had calmed down, she had noticed a couple of kids her age. One had spiky black hair, hazel brown eyes. He wore a green jacket with reddish edges, green short shorts, and green, laced boots. He was with a group of other older boys. She decided against approaching them. The other was a boy with white hair, blue eyes, a white tee-shirts, shorts, and a skateboard. He seemed easier to approach, but something held her back from approaching.

She sighed, resigning herself to be alone for the duration of the test. Not even her guard, her best friend, was here. She would truly die alone.

Suddenly one of the walls containing the examinees opened up, revealing a man with pale lavender hair, and a perfectly curled black mustache. He wore a black suit with a red tie, and no matter how much Gale looked, she could not for the life of her find his mouth.

"I apologize for the wait." He said. "The entry period for the Hunter applicants have ended. The Hunter exam will now begin" With those words there was a shift in everyone's attitude.

Gale heard a saw a couple of people grin, some readied their belongings. She stood from her wheelchair, smiling with excitement and anticipation.

"A final caution." He continued, putting a damp on the mood, "If you are short on luck or ability, you could very well end up seriously injured or even dead. Those who accept the risk please follow me. Otherwise exit via elevator behind you." He pointed behind them. Everyone glanced back at the elevator they had come from. No one made a move for it.

He waited a few moments, before starting again. "Very well. All 404 applicants will participate in phase one." And with those words he began walking.

Immediately after he started walking, Gale called for her staff.

"Hoa." She shouted, and it shot out from her bag and into her hand. Her staff was wooden, with carvings of her native language going from the base to the top. At the top it split into four branches that surrounded a glass circle. Inside the glass circle was a globe of water, suspended mid-air. Inside the water was a red lily, with intricate patterns of flames. The top of her staff had a carving of wings, and at the very tip of her staff, was a flame that would never go out.

The man who was leading them's walk was very strange. He took very wide steps, swinging one of his arms straight back and one of them forward with ever step. It was a strange sight.

He gradually began to speed up, causing everyone following him to speed up as well. Gale walked up to the front, not noticing the grey figure that was following her. The group was in a slow jog by the time she made it to the middle, so she decided to stay there. That would wear her out too quickly. So instead she hopped on Hoa, lowly gliding through the air.

"I neglected to introduce myself," He said from the front. "I am Satotz, the Phase One Examiner. I shall lead you to the exam's second phase."

"Second Phase?" She heard someone call out. "What about Phase One?" She rolled her eyes. Whoever asked that was an idiot. If he said he was doing Phase One and he would lead them to phase two, then it was obvious that following him would be Phase One. Some people in this world lack common sense.

"It has already commenced." Satotz replied.

People began to mumble amongst themselves but she didn't care to join them. After all, she had no one to talk to. She was one of the youngest people there.

"You must follow me to phase two." He repeated. "This is the exam's first phase."

"Follow you, that's it?" The same idiot who had spoken before spoke again. This man clearly didn't know how to listen. He just said that. Please pay attention next time you ask questions.

"Yes." Satotz told him. "I cannot tell you when or where you must arrive. You need to follow me."

The group in front of her began to make an analysis of the situation. It consisted of a blonde in traditional Kurta clan clothes, a brunette in a business suit, and the same boy she had noticed before. Maybe fate was trying to make her make friends. She once again decided not to approach the group, and continued following them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the same grey hood get a little closer to her.

She moved up, and at the same time the silver haired boy from before passed them.

"HEY!" The man shouted, causing Gale and the boy to turn their heads to him. "Have some respect for the hunters exam."

Gale tilted her head curiously, while the boy to her left just hummed curiously.

"This is an endurance test." He yelled, panting. The two hours most people had been running was taking a toll on him.

"No its not." The boy with brown hair spoke up. He's defending us! Gale cheered inside her head.

He let out a noise of disbelief.

"Who's side are you on Gon." So that was the name of the boy. He looked like a Gon, now that she thought about.

"The director only said to follow him, he never said to run." The silver haired kid got close to Gon.

The suited man nearly shrieked, but then became curious in what he was doing.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"12" Gon responded.

"What about you, Golden girl." She blinked, realizing the question was directed at her. Golden girl was the best he could come up with. Just because her eyes were golden.

"Same here." She said quietly. She didn't really care what they thought of her. She would speak for them, her voice so soft from disuse and illness.

"We're the same age," He mumbled.

"Guess I'll walk," He said, doing a cool skateboard trick and jogging along with Gon.

Gale sighed, and jumped off her staff, deciding to run with the two boys. If she couldn't run a couple hundred kilometers than she was a failure as a citizen of Aliquid.

"I'm Killua" Killua says

"I'm Gon"

"I'm Gale" She said, jogging alongside the two of them.

There was little conversation, not in the fact that no one was speaking, but the conversations were boring. Gale had mastered the art of sleeping and running. Using her magical staff to guide her, she fell asleep running.

"Leorio." Someone shouted, waking Gale up from her nap. She saw the guy who had been bothering her and Killua about not running. So his name was Leorio, she thought to herself. She was too tired to pay attention to what was going on, and had nearly slipped back into the blissful arms of sleep, when a shirtless Leorio came sprinting past her.

Gon stopped running, causing her and Killua to stop as well. He took out his fishing rod, which she hadn't noticed he had until he grabbed it, and pulled Leorio's suitcase from ten meters away to them.

They stared in awe at his magnificent fishing rod abilities. "You have to let me try that," They said together, blinking in surprise before laughing.

Gon laughed as well, "Only if you let me use your skateboard. And your cool staff thingy." "Sure" They agreed, laughing. The group jogged up a bit.

"So," Gon started "Why are you two doing the Hunter exam?" Gon asked.

"My dad left me at my aunt's house when I was young to be a hunter. I wanna know what was so great about being a hunter that he left me. And I wanna find my dad." He told them.

"You're really strange Gon" Killua told him.

"Most people would resent their dad."

"So what about you two?" he says, posing his question again.

"I'm doing it 'cause I heard it was hard. So far it seems really boring." He says, pouting. All eyes turn on Gale.

"My grandma convinced me to take it."

"Really," the two boys exclaimed. They were very surprised that her family had condoned and encouraged her to go to the hunter exam, especially since both of theirs had been actively trying to stop them.

"Hey we're almost there." Gon said.

"Wanna race to see who gets the exit first?" Killua asked mischievously.

"Loser buys the winner dinner."

"I'll fly to the top to see who gets there first."

And with that they were off to the front. Gale had gotten on Hoa and flown up to Satotz, abandoning the two boys. It had only taken them moments to catch up, each of them racing up the staircase, and they joked around for a bit. Before Gale saw a flicker of grey in her peripheral again.

"Ne, guys. I'll be right back."

"Ok." Gon said.
"Hurry back, I don't want you to miss me beating Gon." Gale laughed good-naturedly, somehow doubting that Killua would win this. Those two seemed evenly matched.

Gale flew down to where she had last seen the grey cloak that seemed to have been her shadow. She spotted it behind a front runner that was dressed like a ninja. She swooped down and yanked the hood off, revealing her best friend, Asteria.

"Asteria!" She whisper shouted in their native tounge, "Did they make you follow me."

Asteria jumped, glaring up at her. "Well you seem livelier than ever." She hissed. "I'm your personal guard, did you expect them to let you leave without me. The Hunter exam is deadly. I'm supposed to bring you back if you start doing anything dangerous. I don't need to interfere with your personal life."

Gale froze, although Hoa still kept her at speed with Asteria. "You're still mad about that." Gale mumbled, ashamed.

"Of course I am. You shoved me out of your life, and then told me not to interfere while you self-destructed. You treated me like I was nothing more than the royal advisor you don't like. And now you act totally fine." Asteria's words hurt.

"Aster, I'm sorry. I was angry and sad, and I wanted to be alone. I'm only taking this exam to distract myself that I'm going to die in three months. I just want to pretend I don't have a time limit on my life.-"

"You don't. I you would take the stupid operation then.-"

"You know why I won't do that."

"I know the reason, and I think its stupid."

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Gale asked, sighing defeated. Suddenly she saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

"I have to go back up there, my friends wanna race. Join us, if you don't hate me." Gale said, cutting off the conversation and flying as fast as she could to get there before Gon and Killua.

She had made it there at the same time as Satotz, which is to say, only seconds before Killua and Gon. They had crossed at the same time, making the following conversation all the more headache inducing.

"I made it up here first." Gon said.

"No, you totally ate my dust while I got here first." Killua countered.

"I got here first, right Gale?" Killua asked, giving his best puppy dog eyes. He knew they had tied, he wasn't stupid.

"I must say, it was a tie between you two."

"What?" Killua moaned, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Now how are we supposed to know who buys who lunch."

Gon was struck with an idea. "What if I buy you dinner, and then you buy me dinner." Killua made a face, not getting the idea.

They stood next to Satotz, and Gale took a step forward to admire the view. It wasn't very pretty, it was mostly greys and browns, with dull green leaves. But it was different than what she was used to at home. It was pretty, in its own way.

More people had joined them, which had included Leorio, Kurapika, and Asteria. Gale gave Asteria a look of relief, and then went to rummage in her bag for snacks. She was hungry. Suddenly she wished she was back at the castle, with all of its gourmet meals. Even if she rarely had an appetite, when she did, it was there full force.

She rummaged through her bag, ignoring all the shouting and commotion, before finding one can of sliced pineapples. She rejoiced, thanking whoever packed her bag, for packing her favorite fruit. She opened it and began happily munching on the fruit,

Suddenly, Killua was nudging her shoulder. "Come on, we'll lose Satotz in this fog if we don't stay close to the front." He said, pulling her arm. She nodded, jogging with him to catch up to the rest of the group.

"What were you looking for in your bag?" Killua asked, looking at it curiously. Her hands were still in it, but she was hesitant to bring it out to the open to eat. Killua seemed like the type to be a glutton, and she didn't need him stealing her food. Besides, Asteria was always lurking, always ready to steal an exposed piece of food. She was almost like a seagull.

"Food," Gale answered simply, finally taking the canned pineapple out of the bag. Killua laughed at her.

"You were worried about food while someone got murdered." He said, while laughing. "Man am I with a strange bunch of people."

Gale pouted, and mock glared at him. She then pretended to sniff in disapproval, before laughing herself. Gon soon joined their laughter, and they continued joking around until Gale and Killua felt it.

Gale didn't know how to describe the feeling. It was like a creeping sensation of dread. A sense that someone wanted to murder someone, and their mere presence was making the air around them dark, and heavy. She knew Killua felt it too, seeing as how he stiffened and became guarded. The fog around them got heavier.

"Let's get to the head of the pack." Killua said seriously. Gale couldn't help but agree. Someone was about to start a murder spree, and she did not want to be anywhere near the general vicinity what it happened. She hurried along with Killua before remembering that Aster was back there. She turned to warn her friend of the impending danger, but Gon beat her to the punch.

"Kurapika, Leorio, Asteria, Killua said to head to the front." He shouted into the oppressive fog. Gale briefly wondered how he got her friend's name, but her thoughts were interrupted by one of the only people who could beat Gon in a yelling contest.

"Imbecile. Don't you think we'd be up there if we could? We'll catch up don't worry about us." Leorio shouted through the fog. Gon glanced uneasily back at the fog, yet she let a slight smile.

Something about this group made Gale feel happy. It made her smile, and that wasn't something she had done in years.

Her smile dropped when the screams started. The people who were lagging behind were being picked off one by one. Gale began clutching her staff a bit tighter.

Death was something she was familiar with. Murder attempts, and murder itself happened all the time in the higher ranks of her country. But never had the deaths been drawn out enough for her to hear them scream.

It was terrifying.

Gale began moving in between Gon and Killua, safety in numbers helping her calm down, even if it was just a little bit.

"What are those noises coming from behind us?" Gon asks, diving into a topic that Gale does not want to discuss. She doesn't want to speculate about what's going on behind them. She already knows. They're being systematically executed.

The oldest looking of the three brothers speaks up "I don't know when it happened, but sometime while we were running, the group behind us disappeared."

"Seriously," another replied "There were more than one hundred people behind us."

Gale knew it would be pointless to look back, but she did anyway. The area behind them was really white, almost as white as a blank canvas. There was no seeing through the fog. Gale screwed her eyes shut as she ran, willing herself not to think about the very real possibility that her best friend had been murdered. Her staff's presence hummed, trying to comfort her.

I'm not back there, I'm not dying, she's not dead, I'm not back there, I'm not dying, she's not dead, I'm not back there, I'm not dying, she's not dead, I'm not back there, I'm not dying, she's not dead,-

Gale tripped on a tree root, so absorbed in making sure that she wasn't thinking about what was going on behind her, she had forgotten to feel the air around her for her surroundings. Fortunately for her, her staff stopped her fall. Killua and Gon noticed, but decided not to comment. Which was great, because she was in no shape to talk.

They ran for a while and the initial screams died down, and then a recognizable voice creamed. Gon had already turned and was about to starting running to where he heard the voice, but Killua grabbed his arm.

"Gon if you go back there you lose the main group and you lose almost all of your chances at passing." Gon looked at Killua, with determination in his eyes, and ran off to go help his friends.

Gale had chosen to stay closer to Killua and the main herd. At least until she heard a scream that had echoed in her nightmares. She heard Asteria scream, and suddenly Killua was all by himself.