Some warnings: Suicide mention, minor cursing.
I do not own Hunter x Hunter, which is quite obvious since this is a fanfiction site.
WATER.
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She was drowning, water flooding up her nose, her mouth – flooding up her lungs.
It was all voluntary; she wanted to end her life, and yet here she was panicking and regretting and despairing.
"The water burns," she thinks, grabbing at her chest, grabbing at nothing.
Her body was too stiff, warped in an awkward posture. Pressure on her chest, and her insides burning up she knows one thing; no turning back now.
"This sucks."
And that was all she could think before a stray thought floated in the midst of her unconsciousness,
"I don't want to die."
NOVEMBER 19TH, 1986.
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It was the shock of cold air that woke her up.
She felt tiny, with the large, warm hands firmly carrying her, something synthetic feeling on her slimy skin. With a shiver, she felt that she was promptly dried and bundled up in a soft towel. She was then set down on something comfortable, most likely a bed.
There was no mother to greet her.
"Kaguya. That is your new name, little one."
5 YEARS AFTER BIRTH. EVENING.
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Is this punishment for what I've done in my past life? I thought, numbly washing every speck and fleck left on the floor, with Old Lady Olga furiously watching at my back.
"If I see even a single particle of dirt, by Jove, Kaguya you might as well not even be fed at all!" Olga hissed, her dark eyes flashing at me, "Do that stunt again and I swear...…."
Ah. Yes. I had attempted escaping from this hellhole of a place, at least for a break.
'Some break; leaving the orphanage for almost a whole day?'
But I can't help it. Babbling children, making grabby postures with their grubby, saliva covered, germ covered hands; children are children, who could blame me? And then there was Old Lady Olga – fuck her too.
Either way, it has been 5 years since my discovery of my dislocation – otherwise meaning that I had died and reincarnated into a new world. It had been hard to accept at first, that I'm now a puny slobbery kid again and that I died meaninglessly, but over time, I learned not to look into it too much, however much it was unacceptable for me.
Maybe I'll get a better life here, in this new world.
"HAHAHA! Kaguya got in trouble~" said some-kid-I-didn't-give-two-cents-about-who-their-name-was-called, their voice set in an annoyingly provoking tone.
Maybe if I get out this hellhole first.
I try to unscrunch my face, turning to answer to Olga, and in the sweetest voice I could muster, I said, "I promise I wouldn't do it again Miss Olga."
"Oh please! This is the fifth time that you had the audacity to promise me a promise that won't be kept! And what does that have to say about yourself, huh?!" Old Lady Olga retorted, her face twisted in an ugly frown, marks and wrinkles that clearly state her age.
"Wash the dishes when you're done," she said turning to leave, mumbling something that sounds suspiciously like 'troublemaking little bitch...'
I push away my coal colored bangs, quickly finishing up the job of cleaning up the floors, and then making a move for the kitchen for my final chore, bringing a stool with me as I go. I ignore the children and their teasing 'ooooooohhhhh, auuhhhs'.
Kids will always be kids.
I swear, after all of this, my fingers will end up staying as pale raisins permanently, all because of that stupid bitch-ass rotten Olga.
It's not like I genuinely hate her though. I just dislike her enough to cuss her out in my breath. And I can't truly blame her either, not when she has to take care of a bunch of squabbling, too energetic children, with the orphanage here incredibly understaffed to boot.
Come to think of it, the whole orphanage is weird – actually the whole area I've explored so far, maybe even the whole world, is just downright weird. There was only a little sense of consistency here, seeing some advanced technology, some of what can be considered useless or outdated from my past life, odd traditions and cultures, and so on and so forth. Even then, something was oddly familiar about this place, despite it feeling close to being a completely different planet, giving off a strange sense of heaviness.
I felt like an alien here, as this world might as well exist in a different dimension or what not, and I happened to be misplaced into it, rather than the afterlife.
'I've had enough with my thoughts for now,' I thought to myself, putting away the last of the dishes.
I step down from the stool as I take a bite out of the stolen stale bread, stashed within my pockets, and left for bed, waiting for another tomorrow, ignoring the hunger pains I felt from the lack of food as I slept.
DREAMING.
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When I slept, I dreamt of shadows.
But that lasted for a little more than a minute until the shadows begun to reveal themselves to be a Victorian styled living room; book shelves, plush pillows, and all. It was somewhat hard to see, even though there was lighting from the fire place. It became too real to be dream.
My attention was caught to the odd, humanoid entity sitting on top of a somewhat grand looking plush chair. It was stark against the light of the light of the fireplace, it being darkest colored and grim looking thing in such a grand room.
I take my time studying it. The entity was tall, somewhat thin although it took up much space on its seat. Its face looks to be made of shadows, even with the hood it had over its head, leaving much to the imagination. The black cloak it was wearing covered its body in its entirety, from neck to toe. Only a single lithe, boney arm was sticking out from under its cloak, holding a wine glass filled generously with milk. Odd, for something that has no mouth, or any facial feature at all actually.
"Why, hello there Elaine. Or should I call you Kaguya?" it said, in its whispery, sinister voice.
I shook myself out of my musings, "Call me Kaguya. The name Elaine has no meaning to me now."
"I see. Take a seat. Would you like a treat?" it said, its thin, stick-like fingers slowly holding out a cookie.
I don't sit down on one of the loveseats, finding this awfully suspicious. I politely say no. "Who are you? Are you death? Why am I here?" Unusually courageously, I asked.
"Firstly, you should already know that death is just an end phase for all living beings; I myself am just an overseer. I have come to access judgement upon you, for the deeds that you have done." It said, authoritatively. It's deep voice grew more sinister, more ominous as it continued, "Most of what you've done in your past life as Elaine was minor, however, the most major deed that you, yourself have consciously done to lead you to where you are, was suicide."
Its towering frame leaned towards me, staring into my seafoam eyes, "Do you understand what this means, Kaguya?"
I grit my teeth and clench my fists, ready to fight, yet instinctively knowing that it would be no use against the ethereal being in front of me.
"What's that supposed to mean you? You have no business in what I do with my life!"
It was patronizing me.
"Oh. But I do. I am an overseer after all, and overseers must obey the laws given to every one of us, just as you must obey yours. It is our meaning in simply existing." It said, in a way that I think it's sneering at me. "But back to business. I am here to inform you that the punishment that we have chosen would be that you play the game of life, or otherwise the punishment game."
I was starting to panic, breaking out in cold sweat as the shadows began slowly overcoming the living room again.
It continued, "I have granted your wish of being alive again – however, included in the punishment game, you must complete and go through many trials in your new life, all the while under the conditions of the game."
I felt hands gripping on my legs – my arms. I kneel down shakily, trying to ground myself. "Oh god."
"Now, there is something I should most probably tell you, about your existence," it chuckled, taking a quick sip at its milk. "But perhaps it's better if you see it for yourself, playing along with the game."
And then it grinned, its shadowy skin pulling back to show an ugly skeleton face. It looked more like it was bearing its teeth.
"How rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself."
Before I was pulled into the darkness, three final words came from the being that I have slowly began to hate.
"Call me Morty."
Hello everyone. This is my first fanfic. Although I feel like I didn't write enough and this chapter is horribly short, I'll update soon!
A character intro thingy, just to get an image:
Kaguya - Current Age: 5. Has coal black hair and seafoam eyes. No parents. Past life name: Elaine. Very bitter. And terribly short.
