Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my Wallflower OC Contest Entry, the second draft of it. It's original name was Before Ever After. Then I called it Love Left to Lose. AND THEN I scraped it and restarted it. And when I finished, I changed it's name to "Unusual" and that's how it's staying! Now, I wrote this one-shot for the contest, but at the same time I love it as a story all it's own. To me, while I was writing it, it grew into more than just a contest entry. I just absolutely fell in love with my character and her story. So, I'm pretty proud of this and I hope you enjoy reading it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter X Hunter or any cannon characters! I do however, own my OC, Anna.

Unusual

"Sometimes you run. And sometimes you don't even know what you're running from."

Shouting echoed into the walls of the room, seeping in from underneath the wooden door, making the young girl inside tense as she shoved a random shirt from her closet into a small suitcase. Her hands shook as she pulled the zipper across the case, locking the components inside, and then used that same hand to wipe away the wetness that began to consume her cheeks. Lifting the suitcase proved easy as the inside was made up of very little, and she had no problem carrying it over to the bed that was just below the window she planned to make her escape with.

Unlatching the window, she pushed it up until she heard a soft 'click' indicating that the window was locked in place as high as it would go. She leaned her head out of the window to make sure that the blanket she had placed on the earth below was still there. Finding that it was, she pulled back and tossed her suitcase down, careful to leave enough space on the blanket for a soft landing of her own.

More unrecognizable words banged against her eardrums, and she heard footsteps drawing nearer. With wide eyes full of panic, she quickly swung her legs over the edge of the window and ducked, releasing her grip on the windows edge and fell to the ground. She landed with one of her legs tucked under her body, and her other leg was bent so her foot collided with the ground, forcing her knee to knock against her chin.

Brushing off the stinging she felt in both her legs and her jaw, she pushed herself onto her feet and grabbed her suitcase with one hand, leaving the other to crumple up the blanket and hold it against her side. She gave only a quick glance towards her window and around the corner to the front door of her house, finding it completely void of any living creature coming through it. In the back of her mind, she could still hear her parent's shouting, but their voices were blocked by the window that closed due to the force of the girl's arms when she fell.

Turning away from her house, the girl began to walk, unable to muster the strength to make her muscles run. Her town wasn't very large, but it took her a good twenty minutes to navigate her way to the trainstation, repeating the street numbers in her head as she walked. Once the station was in view, she opened the side compartment of her suitcase (a juggling act due to the lack of arm space from all she was holding) and pulled out a red card with the messy handwriting of her mother's signature on the front.

If only her mother knew what she had really been signing. If only she knew that she had signed away her rights to the thirteen year old, that she had given her the one thing that she was deprived of for so long: Freedom.

The train was made up of several cars, and quite frankly, she wasn't sure which one she was supposed to get on. She would assume the first car at the front would be a good place to start, but she couldn't see the front car, much less get to it before the train was scheduled to leave . . . in roughly two minutes.

As she searched for someone to enter the train, a loud, indistinguishable voice spoke over the intercom.

"Boarding for the train heading west to the site of the Hunter Exam has come to a close. The train will be leaving shortly. All personnel please shut and lock the door to your cars."

The girl's eyes grew wide, and in an instant she was in motion, running towards the nearest car. She saw the door begin to slide close and shoved her suitcase forward, wedging between the door and the frame. That left her with just enough space to squeeze through (though a little pushing effort from her right foot was needed to keep her from getting stuck.) It was times like these that she was thankful that she was small.

Picking up her case and letting the door finally close and lock in place, she turned to the inside of the car only to be met by the face of a young man, seemingly only a couple of years older than her. He had brown hair with a purple hat (and she used the term 'hat' very loosely) and matching eyes that seemed to scrutinize her the longer they stood there.

"Um . . . can I take a seat?" she asked quietly, pulling her blanket closer.

The boy in front of her nodded and held out his hand. "May I see your pass first?"

"Sure," she said in a small voice, accidentally dropping her blanket while trying to hold out the card that was being held in the same hand.

She gave a nervous smile as he took the card from her and quickly bent to pick up her blanket before he had a chance to hand the card back.

"Savannah Reyes?" he asked, looking over the name on the card once again.

"Yes," she replied, tucking a strand of fly away, black hair behind her ears. Without another word, the boy returned her card to her hand, smiling faintly before walking away to the opposite end of the car.

Finally being alone, her racing thoughts caught up to her. What she was doing, no matter how much she felt she needed to do it, wasn't right. Sneaking away in the middle of the night and leaving her parents wasn't something she would do. It never mattered how bad things got; she was always too attached to leave. Things weren't always so bad with her parents; they actually used to like each other. It was only on the last three years that they started arguing on a regular basis, and she always had hope that with a little patience and support they would get better.

But the longer the screaming sounded in her ears, the more she knew that waiting it out wasn't working. She needed to do something, to get away. Her head ached more with every word, and it was driving her out of her mind. She had begun to spend less and less time at home, often spending excess time in the town with her friends. It was always when she was out that she was happiest, but she always had to return home. But this time she knew that she couldn't return home until she was stronger, until she could handle her parents again.

Sighing, Savannah started walking slowly towards an empty seat, which wasn't hard considering there were only two other people in the car aside from herself. Deciding on a section of the car that wasn't occupied, she placed her suitcase in the seat closest to the aisle, letting herself fall into the one beside the window where the nighttime view would soon be passing by. With a yawn, she unfurled her blanket and stretched it out over herself and closed her eyes, her head leaning against the cold glass of the window, and began to fall into an all-too-horrifyingly-familiar slumber.

"Savannah? Savannah?"

The young girl's eyes shot open, red and blotchy, frantically searching for the owner of the voice that had awakened her. Her eyes rested on that of a familiar face, the only one from this train she would recognize: the boy who had checked her ticket. He was standing in the aisle, leaning a little ways into the seat that held her bag with his brows creased.

"Are you alright?" he asked, pulling back as Savannah began to sit up properly.

"I'm fine," she replied through a dry mouth, using her blanket to wipe away a layer of sweat that had formed on her forehead. "Just a bad dream."

The boy's brow uncreased, and he nodded. "I'll go get you a glass of water," he said and left the car.

When he returned with her water, he sat down in the seat across from her, holding the water out to her. Cautiously, she took it, and gratefully wet her pallet.

"So, your name is Savannah, right?" he asked, leaning back in the seat.

Nodding, she set her glass of water on the armrest to her left, pulling her blanket around herself again. "I go by Anna," she answered, keeping her blue eyes down.

"Well, Anna," he said, digging into his pocket. "You should take this." Outstretching his hand, he held out a small, blue pill. "It's a pill issued to Hunters so that they can sleep without disturbances to ensure better qualities of their missions."

Hesitantly, Savannah took the pill from the boy's hands and rubbed it between her fingers. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked, looking up at him. "I don't even know your name."

"I'm Pokkle," he said. "And I'm a Hunter. I passed the exam about two years ago."

Savannah looked down at the pill in her hand, passing it over her fingers. A restful sleep sounded rather good to her, not having to worry about what terrors she would face, not having to wake up drenched in sweat. She glanced over at the boy across from her, assessing him. There was nothing that indicated that he couldn't be trusted, and he even told her his name and occupation.

Savannah didn't know much about Hunters, to be honest. She first heard about them when word spread two months ago that a train to the Hunter Exam would be passing through the town, and everyone began to talk about it. So, she had done her research, trying to figure just what these 'hunters' were. Hunters were like elite members of society, passing an extremely challenging exam to gain that status. From what she heard and read, Hunters were given a card, post exam, that basically gave them access to everything and permission to do anything. And that's what got her.

There was no specific age requirement. Even someone of her age could take the exam and become a Hunter. If she passed she could go anywhere, see anything she wanted, and she wouldn't have to report to anyone. She liked the idea of being free, being able to grow outside of her cage. And that was why she wanted to do this, to ride this train to the Hunter exam and become a Hunter.

And that was why she couldn't take that pill.

"Thank you, but I can't take it," she said, putting the pill back in his hands. "If I'm not strong enough to handle a nightmare, then I can't even hope to be strong enough for this exam."

"Are you sure?" he asked, gripping the pill in his fist. "It's just to make sure you're rested for the exam."

Savannah shook her head and leaned back against her seat, messing with the hem of her purple and black plaid shirt. "No, it's not just that. Taking that pill will get me into the habit of taking the easy way out. And even without that logic, taking that pill would be like running away from my nightmares, my problems, and that's no way to handle things. Pushing things back and hiding from them? That's dangerous. I can't magically make my problems go way. I have to either live through them or fight them."

Being brave wasn't something she was known for. She was known for sitting back and letting the chips fall where they may, letting chances pass her by as she played it safe. But playing it safe had gotten her nowhere, and getting on this train had been the first step to her actually doing something with her life, to her taking chances and stepping out of her comfort zone. And not taking the chance to get rid of her nightmares was definitely out of her comfort zone.

Looking up, she saw the boy give a faint nod in her direction before stuffing the pill back into his pocket. He clasped his hands together and leaned forward, a smile spreading across his lips.

"Congratulations, Anna. I'm gonna make sure we get you to the Hunter Exam safely," he said.

Savannah opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her brows furrowed, and she lifted her hand, but dropped it immediately, shifting her eyes around the room in confusion. When they finally landed back on Pokkle, she finally found her words.

"Congratulations? I haven't done anything," she said slowly. "And weren't you already going to take me to the exam?"

"Well, yes and no," Pokkle responded. "About an hour from now, the train is going to run into some trouble that could 'possibly' cause the passengers to miss the deadline for the Hunter exam."

Savannah began to speak, but Pokkle held up his hand, and she relaxed back against her seat and shut her mouth.

"People are going to be upset and freak out. Each Hunter that is in charge of their car is going to offer this pill to their passengers. They are going to tell them it will help them calm down, relax, sleep well, not worry, etcetera, until they get the train back up and moving. It's a test to see how people react to the situation and to how they react to the offer of the pill," Pokkle said, and then stopped and sighed.

"But what's the point?" Savannah asked.

"The point," Pokkle answered, "is this: It is my job, the Hunters on this train's job, to weed out the applicants. Each Hunter has their own desired response that they look for. Me? I'm looking for people who actually put some thought into taking the pill or not. I would not pass someone who blindly took the pill or denied it. If we don't pass you, we get you off the train and then we announce that the train is ready to travel again and the rest of the applicants will be taken to the site."

"Oh," Savannah said, her face falling into a frown. "Is that why you were being so kind to me? To test me?"

Pokkle leaned back and unclasped his hands, putting them on his knees and tightening his lips into a line. With his eyes closed he sighed, sensing the wary look he was getting from the younger girl.

"My job is to screen the applicants in this car. Technically, I'm supposed to judge them when the train stops," he said, opening his eyes. "And I hadn't decided to test you until I went to get your glass of water. So, no, I wasn't being kind to you for the test. I was just genuinely worried."

"Why?" she asked, and then bit her tongue after realizing the harshness of her voice.

"Because," he said, "it's not very common for kids your age to go searching for the exam. And the last kids your age that I saw took the exam with me two years ago. Seeing you there, especially with how upset you looked, reminded me of them. I guess I was just a bit intrigued as to why you're here."

Savannah let a tiny smile onto her face and tucked her legs into her seat, pulling her blanket up around her shoulders. "Why I'm here. I'm here because . . . because I just wanna get away. I wanna be free. I want . . ." She sighed. "I want to experience the things only Hunters are able to experience."

Silence soon surrounded them, and when Pokkle looked up at the clock, he sighed and stood. "In about thirty minutes, the train is gonna stop, I suggest that you get some rest since you really don't need to be awake through it."

Savannah nodded and leaned her head back, closing her eyes. She listened to Pokkle's footsteps as he walked away, her muscles relaxing when she heard him conversing with someone to whom she couldn't hear. Once she was finally relaxed, she waited as the darkness engulfed her, and the voice of the only person she would know from now on faded away.

My eyes open and there I am again. I'm sitting there on my knees, covered in the purple dress laced with red and black fishnets. My hands are clenched around the dress, and my hair is curled, a single curl blocking the vision of my left eye. Against my knees I can feel the coolness of the glass, the bottom of the glass case I know I'm sitting in. If I lean forward even an inch I know my forehead will be pressed against the front of it.

I glance to the right, and I can see a wavering reflection of myself on the glass of that wall. Though all I can see is the outline of my face illuminated by my own electric blue eyes. They never turn this shade of blue outside of this room. Outside of here, they are always baby blue and dull.

I watch people outside, passing me by, their feet clanking against the ground. I can hear them. Every sound they make. But they can't hear me. I've learned by now that screaming does no good. I can see them, but they can't see me. My glass case acts as a double-sided mirror. On one side, it's like glass, and the other, it might as well not be there at all.

I know it's useless to scream; I know that every time I wake up here. But an itch crawls its way up my throat, and my body begins to tingle with fear. My shoulders shake, and my eyes water, and I know I can't stop it any longer. I open my mouth, and the most piercing, earth shaking scream fills up the room. I feel the glass shake, but it doesn't even crack, and I'm left with a dry throat and a tear-stained face.

My mind can't reason with my body. I repeat in my head that this screaming is no good, but my body doesn't listen. The screaming goes on, this time mixing in with words and pleas. This is hopeless. No one can hear me. Why do I continue to scream?

And then a new screaming begins. I don't expect it so my head swivels towards the back of the room, and I see nothing. But the voices are still screaming, and soon I begin to recognize them. My head begins to ache as the voices get louder, and I want nothing more than for them to stop. So, I grip my head in my hands and begin to cry, the kind of crying where I choke on my sobs, stop to breathe, and then do it all over ago.

I take my hands away from my head for only a second to bang on the glass, but the screaming is so loud I can't even bear it. My hands cover my ears now, and I tuck my head down, feeling the warm dress against my face, drying my tears. I can't stand this anymore.

Suddenly, I feel pain shudder across my arms and jolt up. My eyes shake, and I look down, and I have to shut my eyes tight in fear. I can feel the stinging spread up my arm and dare to look again; more cuts are crawling over my arms.

I'm not moving. I can't move. I can't do anything.

And then I feel one tear in the center of my dress, right across my stomach.

My hands fly across the scratches, rubbing and clawing, trying anything and everything to make them stop and go away. But they don't. More and more just keep coming until red stains my dress.

And then I hear the voice.

It's a familiar voice.

A voice I've only heard a couple of times.

But it's oh-so-familiar.

"It doesn't matter how loud you scream, how long you cry, or how deep you cut. No one cares to listen. In fact, no one cares at all."

Savannah was wide awake the moment her eyes were no longer covered by her lids. She became fully aware of her surroundings immediately, the vibration of the train shaking her as she tried to steady her breathing. It had been that dream again; the one that had been haunting her for the past two months.

She rested her face in her palms as silent tears soaked her fingers, the occasional sob sounding like thunder in the quiet that consumed the car. Spreading her fingers, she peered into the car, shocked to find that the seat opposite her was occupied. It was instantly that she recognized the face of the person, but the shock of seeing him there, asleep nonetheless, wasn't wearing off.

The words from her dream echoed in her head, beating louder every second she continued to watch him. Eventually she had to close her fingers and shut her eyes, trying hard to block out the pieces of her dream with her soft sobs. But that had not done much for her.

She only lifted her head when she felt a light touch to her shoulder, making her body jerk. Standing in front of her was Pokkle, no longer seated across from her. His brows were formed into a thin line, and he leaned down to her eye level.

"Are you alright, Anna?" he asked.

When he spoke, she thought she was going to lose it again because all she could hear were the words spoken in her dream. She closed her eyes again and pressed herself into the seat, shaking her head.

"No," she said weakly, taking in deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

Pokkle stood and stepped back, letting off the pressure on her shoulder, and crossed his arms. "Another nightmare?" he asked.

Savannah nodded, pulling the blanket up over her head, unable to coherently talk while looking at him.

"Do you wanna tell me about it?" Pokkle asked.

She could tell from his voice that he was both curious and cautious at the same time. Why wouldn't he be? They were practically strangers who just so happened to be acquainted multiple times within the same allotted time.

Slowly, Savannah dropped the blanket, seeing as Pokkle had once again returned to his seat across from her, which made it a tad bit easier to concentrate. Taking in a deep breath she began to describe her dream to him, starting from the beginning, closing her eyes when she found it too difficult to speak while looking at him. Once she began to speak of the second voices, Pokkle stopped her.

"Who was yelling? In your dream? Aside from you," he asked, folding his arms over his chest.

Savannah opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, sighing and slumping her shoulders. "My parents," she answered softly. "They fight like that all the time. Constantly. If they're in a room together they just keep going at it until one of them breaks down and leaves. But our town is small, so there aren't many places to go."

Pokkle didn't speak in reply, so she took that a sign that he wanted her to continue.

"I could only dream of getting away from it. It may sound selfish, but when I heard of this exam, all I could think was 'wouldn't it be nice to escape this madness?'" she said, biting down on her lip.

This time when she finished speaking, she looked towards Pokkle, who had an odd, yet disapproving look on his face. "What?" she asked.

Pokkle showed a quick look of discomfort before sticking with a frown and locking his eyes onto Savannah's.

"Anna, do you remember what you told me earlier? About not wanting to run away and take the easy way out?" he asked, and she nodded. "That's what it sounds like you're doing right now. Running away from your parents."

She hadn't really thought of it that way. It hadn't even crossed her mind that her enthusiasm for freedom might be caused by her desire to escape. She often used them hand in hand but never put them into the same reasoning.

"I guess you're right," she said slowly, rubbing the blanket between her fingers unconsciously. "Hey, Pokkle?"

Said boy had previously been looking down at his lap but looked up towards the girl upon hearing her voice. "What is it?"

"I want to change my reasoning for becoming a Hunter," she said, earning her a surprised look from the boy. "More like . . .add onto it. In becoming a Hunter . . . I want to get stronger. I want to be strong enough to go home. To not feel like every little fight is going to break me into pieces." She took a breath. "I want to be strong enough to be okay again."

Looking at him, Savannah saw Pokkle smile a little. "That's a good reasoning," he said. "Now, how about we continue on with the dream. Like why you were so upset when you woke up?"

Savannah's face flushed and she pulled her blanket back up to hide it and continued on with her story. After finishing she saw the most astonished look she had ever seen cross Pokkle's face before he shook his head and raised his brow.

"I would never say that," he said definitely.

"How do you know?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "What if it was to someone you really, really didn't like?"

Pokkle shook his head and crossed his arms again. "It doesn't matter whether I like them or not. I still wouldn't say it," he answered, sending Savannah a silencing look when she moved to interrupt him. "And that's because there's always someone out there who will care about them. Even if you don't know them or can't see them . . . or even if you refuse to see them, that doesn't stop them from caring."

Savannah soon found herself smiling at his words, the fear from the dream's words swiftly fading away. "I'll keep that in mind," she said, the back of her mind telling her that maybe the one person that genuinely cares about her is the one teaching her of such things.

"By the way, Anna?"

She looked up at him and cocked her head to the side.

Another look of discomfort crawled onto the boy's face, along with a slight hint of redness. "Why did it freak you out so much? When you thought that I would say something like that?"

Savannah felt her cheeks heating up, but continued to keep her face as hidden as possible behind the blanket, both parties equally uncomfortable with the topic.

"Well," she started, "because you're unusual."

He gave her an odd look for the comment, and she immediately dropped her blanket to wave her arms about frantically. "No! I mean . . ." she trailed off for a moment. "Not many people pay me any mind. You know, I'm the person you pass in the market but don't really pay any mind to. I mean, people will recognize me if I go to talk to them, but . . . no one really remembers me. So, I guess . . . it was really because you're the first person in a long time who's ever really tried to get to know me."

An awkward silence engulfed the two, and Savannah decided to turn towards the window and watch the landscape pass by, realizing by the orange sky that the sun was beginning to rise. She pretended not to notice when Pokkle stood and walked over to one of the other passengers in the car and began to converse with them, a conversation that seemed to consist of general questions an employee would ask to a passenger. (It became obvious to her that they must have picked up a few more on one of their stops, because now there were four passengers on their part of the train, not counting herself).

A good thirty minutes later the orange sky had turned pink, with very limited time left before the blue overtook the sky, and Pokkle had made his way back towards Savannah, this time just leaning against the opposing seat leading into the aisle.

"Looks like it's almost time for you to depart."

"What?" she asked, turning around to look at him.

"We're almost at the destination. So you'll be getting off the train soon," he replied.

"What about you?" she asked. "Aren't you coming?"

Pokkle laughed, holding a hand over his mouth to suppress a smile. "I'm an examiner. I just escort the passengers to the destination site."

"Oh," she said, frowning as she stood up, feeling the train's motion began to slow.

"Passengers, please get ready to depart. We will be arriving at our destination in five minutes," came the voice over the intercom.

Savannah sighed and walked over to Pokkle, folding some hair behind her ear and holding out her hand to him. "Thank you for your help, Pokkle."

He took her hand and shook it once, both of them dropping their hands before either had a chance to let the touch linger. With a baby smile, Savannah took a few steps back, looking down and letting her eyes wander anywhere that wasn't in Pokkle's direction.

This drew out another small chuckle from the boy, who pressed his lips together and looked away, obviously hiding his laugh.

"What?" she asked, looking back up at him.

"It's nothing," he said. "It's just . . . you are nothing like those two."

"Who?"

"These two kids who took the exam with me," he replied. "You're nothing alike."

Even she couldn't resist laughing at his statement. It was just so ridiculous. Comparing her to two people of whom she had never met, nor had any connection to what-so-ever. This Pokkle person was indeed an interesting individual.

It was at this point that the train's slow motion turned into a full on stop, causing both Pokkle and Savannah to grip the armrests of the seats they were both standing beside. The other passengers began to stand and walk towards the doors as the opened. Savannah waited and watched as the few in her car disappeared throughout the door, and then grabbed her bag, giving the best possible wave she could to Pokkle with the hand that held her blanket.

Right before she exited the train, however, Pokkle's voice stopped her.

"I look forward to seeing you again, Anna," he said. "Next time we meet, I expect you to be a Hunter. Got it?"

Savannah smiled and nodded her head. "You got it," she replied, not bothering to look at him. "See you soon, Pokkle."

Once she left the train she just stood there for a good few minutes, staring blankly in front of her until she heard the train roaring back to life. When it was in motion again, she glanced over her shoulder with a grin, repeating everything Pokkle had told her in her head.

It will get better, she thought. If I plan to see him again, I have to make it better.

And then she looked up towards the city looming over her, the place where she would take her ultimate test.

This was a new beginning for her.

A new chance to do something worthwhile.

I'm only as strong as my resolve.

Author's Note: Well, there you have it! This is my contest entry! What do you guys think?! Criticism is accepted. Feel free to point out mistakes if you want, I mean there isn't a whole lot I can do about it now, but sometimes seeing things I missed can help. Now, I'm asking you guys to tell me what you think of me making a full-fledged story about Anna. Like, her taking the exam (it's not the same one Gon took, so that should be fun to come up with). I'm asking because . . . I don't really have the time to write it right now, but it's an idea I'd like to have in my head, and I was just wondering who would be interested in reading more from her. Anyway, Bye! ~Red-chan