A/N: Welcome to my fic! Just wanted to mention that this fic is being rated at M because there'll be smut and yaoi in future chapters. Right now it should really be a T rating because there's only swearing, but oh well! :P Hope you enjoy it!

It's not every day you wake up in the Hunter X Hunter Universe. Now, you're probably thinking: "Yawn, this is going to be another fic where the OC is ridiculously overpowered and everyone falls in love with them, isn't it?"

Sadly for me, that wasn't the case.

My story begins with me lying in my perfectly normal bed in the real world, having a lovely dream about Togashi taking Hunter X Hunter off hiatus and everything being alright. Nothing that happens in dreams can affect you, right? I thought that was true, until my mind wandered and I found my dream self talking to the old woman who issued Gon and his friends the quiz before the hunter exam. I vaguely recalled that she never had a name, only being known as "quizzing lady" - how original. I stood in front of her booth, tapping my foot as I waited for something dramatic to happen.

"EXCITING TWO-CHOICE QUIZ!"

There was a belated fanfare from her masked accomplices as I continued to stare at her, not fazed by her sudden raise in voice. Considering I knew what was about to happen, her theatrics couldn't scare me in the slightest.

"I shall administer a single-question quiz which you have 5 seconds to answer. Give me the wrong answer, and I shall change your life's trajectory. Give me anything but the answer and you will be disqualified." She hid her expression behind her hands, simply looking at me with her squinted eyes. I rolled my shoulders in a shrug, silently commending myself for what could be an entertaining dream.

Scuffing the ground with my flat shoes, I nodded. "Sure, bring it."

A small horn tooted before she spoke, and I had to stifle a giggle.
"Would you rather spend your life oblivious to the fact that the world was an illusion, or be the only one to know that you were all trapped in one?" Her right brow raised ever so slightly as I gawked back at her, mouth agape.

"Shit, that's a pretty deep question." My forehead creased as I considered it. It's always said that ignorance is bliss, and knowing the truth whilst not being able to convince anyone else would annoy the living hell out of me. But that would also assume I couldn't persuade others to see the truth too, and this wasn't addressed in the question. Maybe I could ask her?
I cast my eyes up at her, not realising I'd been looking down as I thought.

"Can I clarify part of the question, please? It's too vague for me to answer." I chuckled nervously at her, wondering if my dream would end right then and there. I hoped not – I wanted to see where this went.

But she simply placed her hands on her lap, revealing a thin lipped smile as her eyes almost fully opened.

"You already gave me an answer, and it was wrong, so the question doesn't matter anymore." I blinked dumbly at her, confused. I hadn't given her an answer, what the hell was she talking about?

Oh, but I had.

"That wasn't an answer, that was just me telling you that I thought it was a deep question! Can I try again?" I mentally cursed myself for unknowingly speaking my thoughts aloud, remembering that she had explicitly stated that if I said anything but the answer, I was disqualified.

"No." she spoke flatly, and I sighed. This dream was going to be boring after all. I began to turn away from her, hoping this would prompt the next part of my dreams for the night, or simply wake me up.

"That's a shame. This was just getting fun too…" I mumbled. But then the pressure of a hand landing roughly on my shoulder caused my eyes to widen, realising one of her masked friends had grabbed onto me, pivoting me on my heels and forcing me to face her again.

Her tone was still dull as she spoke. "Now your destiny is irrevocably changed, take care." I scoffed at her, a smirk crossing my features.
"Whatever, this is a stupid dream anyway." And with those words the narrow street was swallowed from my vision as I felt myself falling, consumed by an abyss as I tried to latch onto something. Great, one of those dreams that would jolt you awake.

I was right, for my whole body spasmed as my eyes snapped open. I let out a sigh as I rubbed my eyes, the harsh morning light piercing through my window. Was it morning already? I reached for my duvet, deciding to snuggle myself in it instead of facing the day ahead. Five minutes wouldn't hurt…

Except my hands made contact with something hard, and I wasn't lying down. I cursed as I whacked my hand against a plastic table, wondering if I'd managed to fall asleep at my desk. I peeked down at my hands for any damage before deciding to crawl to my bed. But the muscular tone of my fingers made me stop my automatic gestures, causing me to stare at them. Shit, they were larger too.

And I wasn't in my room, I was in a fucking elevator. And not just any elevator – it was the one I recalled from the Hunter Exam. Is this still part of the dream? I thought to pinch myself, hard -That's what my sister told me to do if you weren't sure you were dreaming. But when my fingers made contact with my skin, gripping it firmly, I let out a deep growl of pain. I realised I was no longer familiar with my own voice, wondering when my imaginary balls had dropped.

I was fairly sure I wasn't dreaming, and I probably looked as well as sounded like a dude.

Well, shit.

So like me, you probably knew what was going to happen next. I was going to follow the Hunter X Hunter storyline for goodness knows how long, and I would gain some amazing superpower that would entice me to either Gon's group and we'd all dance of into the sunset.

I was wrong, again.

Sometime between me leaving the elevator and instantly wanting to skulk into the dark areas of the tunnel, I'd been given the badge number #62. I wanted to cower away from everyone, or find a damn mirror so I could see how awful I looked. After briefly running my hands over my body in the elevator down, I realised I was definitely a male now. No question about it.

And I swore I could mentally hear the flamenco music that started when the magician walked towards me. Repressing a sigh, I met his yellow eyes, who were glancing down at me in surprise.

"It's certainly a shock to see you here Ray-chan, I didn't think you needed a licence~" He drawled in his slightly seductive, but mainly predatory tone as one of his talons extended towards me. Hell no, I didn't want him touching me! I jumped back – as far as I could whilst being sandwiched between an elevator and a creepy clown who was at least a foot taller than me. His hand delicately raised to his lips to conceal his amusement at my reaction.

"What I'm doing here is none of your business." I decided to say in a level tone, unsure what my supposed relationship was with him. I was more concerned with the fact he knew my nickname, and he was staring down at me as if we were more than just friends, ick. Then again, that might be how he stared at everyone…

"Oh my, you're more nervous than usual~ you'll need that energy of yours to get through this exam. Bye for now!" He winked at me before immediately turning on his heel, casually gliding away as if nothing had happened. I didn't get the chance to catch the calculating gaze that had formed in his eyes as he went to talk to #301, who I remembered as Gittarackur. Guess I'd just avoid him for now until I figured out how the hell he knew me, or whoever he was mistaking me for.

I knew what was going to happen next, so I decided to ignore the events that proceeded: Hisoka taking the arms off somebody, Tonpa offering his poisoned juice, as well as Gon, Kurapika and Leorio's arrival. Instead I thought I'd use the opportunity to check out my new body. For some reason, I'd come into this world with a cellphone in the pocket of the grey boardshorts I was wearing, and I used its reflection to analyse my appearance. My once feminine face had become chiselled at the edges, gaunt cheekbones drawing into soft lips. My eyes were slightly slanted upwards, giving the impression that I was constantly looking down at other people. They were a light cerulean, a far cry from my once hazelnut orbs. Barely ear-length black hair was swept to one side, creating a fringe that obscured one of my eyes. Apart from that, I was wearing a black vest with matching trainers, with a nose ring sitting comfortably between my nostrils.

Great, I looked like a scene kid.

Stifling a snort, I flicked through the phone to see if anything was of interest. Sadly for me, it was completely empty apart from two contacts, one marked with a large love heart and the other with a needle emoji: Hisoka and Illumi. Weird.

The sound of hundreds of feet beginning to pound in the same direction drew me out of my stupor, causing me to immediately chase after the throng of people. I ducked my head as I searched for something else – anything else in my pockets that would help me with the endless run ahead. I had no super speed or stamina. Hell, I didn't even know why I was here! So how was I going to run for so long? Now would be a good time for me to just suddenly remember I had some ridiculously overpowered ability that would let me finish this part of the exam.

I racked my brain for a few seconds, eyes squinting shut in concentration. Nope, nothing. Whoever threw me into this universe wasn't feeling merciful.

But the crop of flaming red hair caught my attention as a truly awful idea plagued my mind. It would be embarrassing, disgusting and humiliating, but it might just get me through the exam.

"Hey, Hisoka! How about giving me a piggyback 'til the end? I'll pay you back!" I asked sweetly, much to the aghast of everyone else around me, who all suddenly decided to give me a wide berth. Maybe I was insane, since I'd just told myself to stay away from him, but when the need arises…

"What a delightful idea~!"

Within seconds, strong arms wrapped themselves under my shoulders as I was hoisted onto the clown's back. Wow, he was suspiciously quick in taking me up on my offer. And my sinking suspicions were confirmed when I caught Hisoka's expression, unnervingly similar to a child about to eat his favourite food. I was going to owe him after this, wasn't I?

"You should have your legs around me more often, Ray-chan~"

Yup, I definitely owed him.

A/N: Thanks for reading so far! The following chapters will be longer since this is just an introduction! Hope you liked my story and feel free to leave any questions :)

~Max