Chapter 1: Pie, spiders, and Magic?
"Falling is the last thing a divine being feels. Falling into the dark abyss, hearing a voice whispering softly in their mind, slowly consumed by the Darkness, driven mad by corruption, then destroyed. Fear not what waits in the Darkness, fear what waits right inside of you."
Welcome to this... Thing.
...
Sorry. Can you blame me for not knowing what to say? Yes. Yes, you can. No pairings in mind. Friend zone! Unless I decide I want some dark romance like my books. Ohh! The possibilities! I know tons about BDSM from the books and... experience. I like the Emperor. What's yours? The Ideas appeal to me.
BUT! I have limits. Sadly. Are you still there?
...
Nah. You just want to read the story not the boring AN, Huh?
Villanueva.
The sound of the elevator moving down was one of the few noises he could hear. The teen frowned slightly and got out his clothes from his bag. He slipped on the black socks before putting on the charcoal dress shirt and pants. He tied the laces to his black shoes and started on his tie. He frowned when his finger got caught when he was nearly done, but it didn't make much of a difference. After finishing the trinity knot for his black tie he put on the black vest. He placed his gray hat on his head and loaded his rifle. He turned on his phone and put on his shades. After making sure everything was in order he put the other set of clothes back into his bag, right under his pistols. He still had a few floors before he reached the Exam site. He didn't sit down on any of the chairs that were in the room.
Villanueva didn't like sitting still, but there just wasn't anything to do in this space. His phone started ringing just as the elevator reached the last floor. As he stepped out he answered the phone when the ringing drew the attention of the other applicants. "Yes?" He said in an annoyed tone.
"Excuse me."
"Mr. Villanueva, we have a request for a shipment of the land mines from a-"
"Excuse me."
"Hold on." Villanueva said to the man on the phone then looked down at the smaller one. "Yes?"
The little man held up a tag. "Here's your tag. It's-"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Don't lose it, whatever." He took it and placed it on his chest and moved to find a spot to sit. "Go ahead."
"We need Scarlet eyes for the Nostrade family as well. I think Light's daughter, Neon."
Villanueva sighed. "Tell them we're sold out. I'm tired of hearing about that girl's obsession."
"Mr. Nostrade is willing to pay. What ever we want, he'll pay."
Villanueva ignored the other applicants and sat down up against a wall. "Uh-huh." He took off the bag and set the rifle to the side.
"Sir." The man on the other end stressed. "He's offering us a blank check."
That was a lot of potential money. "Call the warehouse and see if we have any then send me a message. Oh, and don't forget to have all incoming requests for goods put on hold until I'm done with the Exam. Don't want to give away the wrong things again."
"And requests for a Hit, Sir?" The man on the other end asked.
"I'll have all calls diverted to HQ. Have them notify the clients that I'll not be accepting any Hits for the time being. If they get upset recommend them someone." He checked under his fingernail in boredom. He slowly made a fist, making loud cracking sounds.
"Sir. I don't think they'll be too happy."
"Then send them a pie with a note saying, 'Sorry'." He replied carelessly. He honestly didn't care about their feelings, only the money they had.
"Sir..."
"John?" Villanueva asked seriously, knowing that the man was unnerved when he said the man's name since he rarely said it.
The man gulped audibly on the other end. "Yes?"
"Goodbye." Villanueva hung up and slipped the phone away after messing with his settings. Then he glanced at his tag. #7. He looked up. Six other applicants. He sighed and played with the tag for a bit while he pondered some things in his head.
Number seven. Only six other applicants. Most Exams have well over several hundred each year, although a extremely small number of them pass. That being a fact, he understood that they would wait for several hours, letting more people come before they stopped accepting applicants. But Villanueva couldn't take it any longer. #7?! Of all the numbers he got seven?! He has the worst luck. There was no hate for the number itself, only irony and the sad Fact that he has to wait hours for the Exam to start!
He sighed and glanced around for a bit. Only about two-hundred people. Nearly two-hundred more people before it starts. But then again, there was 48% chance that the numbers would be smaller than originally believed, 34% for it to be bigger. He adjusted his tie for the tenth time that day. Maybe he'll get lucky and a large number will swarm in a bit.
Nope.
He shifted and cringed as an acute stab of pain shot through his side. He rubbed the area with a small sigh and looked around. No one interesting at first except some guy that looked like a clown reject. He didn't feel up to talking to someone that has bloodlust oozing out for no apparent reason. Villanueva needed a reason to release his evil out. Even O needed a reason to let that out. Which means a lot since his shadow basically merged with every bad emotion and seemed to be its own being willing to kill anyone that so much as looked at him wrong, and O has been keeping it inside for years, and in situations where he actually blew up angry he kept it inside.
He shuddered at the memory of seeing it. Aura... Nen...Nearly the same except that the aura O wraps himself with is his soul. When blocks with it, he's blocking with his soul, not just his energy like others from the homeland. When aura is mentioned most know this to be a mood surrounding a person; bright and calm, dark and scary. However, aura here was strong enough to be felt by more than just those that could 'sense the mood', and was invisible to those who don't know Gyo. Like when you can tell someone is watching.
But the aura he was used to was different from Nen. Aura back home can be seen by anyone and if put into one's arm, they can lift hundreds of pounds. O showed that if he pressed his bare hand against a wall nothing would happen, but when he put in his energy, or his soul, he blew a hole in the wall. His powers are strong and unmatched, but mixed with his soul, he's a force to be reckoned with. But he only uses it for an increase of physical strength, not his powers, like most back home. Aura is used to show one's intentions, where they hail from,* and how powerful they are. Physical labor goes without saying.
While Villanueva sat with all sorts of thoughts going through his head, he didn't notice the increase of applicants.
Nen is used to defend and attack at once and appears as a shield that wraps around the body when it's not flaring when a Nen user is mad. The Nen users tend to have abilities that use Nen to attack and are able to keep the aura wrapped around their body. At first, Villanueva thought they were masters, but quickly learned of the basics from a master. The fear dispersed. Aura in the homeland can be used in two ways in battle: attack or defend. If you want to break a man's skull with a punch you'll have to lower the shield around your body and put it in your fist. It's a risk most avoid unfortunately. With the Nen shield, Ten, most use just their physical strength or weapons to beat another. Though it is possible to focus it into one part of the body to make it stronger. He forgot what that was called.
Nearly 400 now.
His aura can be hidden away from site under the skin, so if he get slashed by a knife, it'll only break the skin. Others do it, too, but few can hide it when they use it when in combat. O, Villanueva, McFeely, Vanessa, and the others were the few that could hide it even from the Nen users using Gyo. His aura was invisible to the untrained eye of the common people here and when he saw a Nen user, he became curious and let it show and asked what they saw. They described it as a fire that flared at random spots like a fire out of control. How ironic. O's looked like black shadows leaking from his body, hundreds of quiet voices whispering, visible to most and intimidating.
Villanueva took off his shades and tucked them away. He looked at his hand and with a snap of his fingers, a small flame sat on his finger tip. He looked up and saw the clown looking at him. He pointed and shot the fire bolt at him and he simply dodged with a smirk. Villanueva sighed and moved toward the entrance. However, as he made his way to an open area he bumped into someone. He looked around but didn't see anyone. He's tripping balls today.
"Sorry."
Villanueva jumped and tensed due to instinct. Then he saw who spoke. A little boy dressed mainly in green. Green jacket, green shorts, heck, even green boots. A booger. Then he glanced at his hair that spiked up and looked to have a bit of green at the tips. A hairy booger.
Then he realized he was staring. "Uh, no, I wasn't paying attention." He sounded dumbfounded. Great first impression. The kid smiled and opened his mouth when a little guy handed him a tag. #405.
A large smile broke out on Villanueva's face and patted the kid's head. "Wow. No gel. Your hair goes up on its own?" He looked down at the kid's face and saw him smiling back. Villanueva placed his hands on his hips and smiled widely.
"Yeah, I don't use gel." He replied and held out his hand. "I'm Gon." They shook hands and Villanueva felt eyes on him and he quickly saw who was staring at them. A blond and a man in a suit.
"Friends of yours?" He asked as he looked at the two. Gon glanced back and nodded.
Gon waved them over and smiled. "This is Kurapika and Leorio." Gon introduced the blond and the man in a suit. Kurapika's clothes caught Villanueva's interest. A tabard, perhaps? Then Leorio just seemed plain and boring. Blue suit and weird shades. Villanueva liked his clothes better than Leorio. No suit jacket only the black pants, shoes, tie, shirt and black vest. And the hat, can't forget that.
Villanueva stared at them before offering a friendly smile and a light wave. "Name's Villanueva." He stared before frowning. "Oink." He turned just as a large man came over with smile on his face. #16.
All three became confused at the sudden change in expression and then the comment. Kurapika fallowed his gaze and saw the large man coming towards them. Villanueva seemed to not like the man much which led him to believe they met before.
"You must be newbies." He stopped in front of them.
Villanueva turned his back to him and pondered. He knew full well. The smile, look in his eyes, and the fact that he was being too friendly. True, the Exam changes every year and no one knew what the phases were going to be. One phase could require teamwork and the next a death match. It's also true that gaining allies is a good just in case, but would you risk your chance of passing and your life to newbies? Logical answer: No.
"Here, to congratulate on us making it to the Exam." Villanueva was pulled from his own mind when a can of juice was held in his face. Tonpa looked nice. Fat, looks harmless, and is nice.
Without giving him a chance to say another thing, Villanueva swung his arm and Tompa pulled back. The boy glared and when Tonpa opened his mouth the top part of the can fell to the floor. Everyone's eyes went wide at the site of the can and, most disturbing, that Villanueva held no blade in his hand.
Tompa dropped the other half of the can. He sliced it in half! But wheres the blade he used?! Tonpa's thoughts were jumbled with fear.
He took one step forward and growled, "Leave, before I gut you." Tonpa eyes went even wider and he quickly took off. He only sighed and leaned on the wall. "Fool... you can't get me." His voice was low, and was filled with anger.
Kurapika was starting to wonder if they met in a previous Exam.
Villanueva nearly laughed when Gon tried to scold him as if he could do anything about it. Nearly. Gon said something about 'being rude'. How cute. "First off, I know we just met and I don't expect you to get it right off the bat... I despise those that put on the 'nice and harmless' act on the weak and naive. Secondly, he put something in the juice, so if me avoiding any harm to myself is rude..." His tone was slowly going from seething to flat in seconds since he didn't seem to like having to explain.
"Eh, really?" Leorio asked in shock. When Villanueva nodded, Leorio glared in the direction where Tonpa went. "That old man."
Kurapika eyed him suspiciously. He looked down at the can that was cut in half then back at the boy in the formal outfit. Gon opened his and took a sip then spat it out. "It tastes funny." Leorio and Kurapika tossed their cans while Villanueva smirked. "Hey, how did you know if he put something in it? It could have expired." Gon pointed out, but Villanueva sighed and rubbed his temples. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a pair of shades that covered his eyes completely (looking at you, Leorio).
Before they could ask, loud ringing made them turn to the now opening wall, revealing a odd looking man with no visible mouth. "The Exam finally begins," Villanueva muttered. The three looked at Villanueva before they began preparing themselves for what's to come.
Yay! Done in a few hours of staring at a screen, correcting misspells, checking grammar, trying to not be too descriptive while not being all vague about everything. It sucks. I misspelled Tonpa's name as Tompa and didn't realize until I was nearly done.
Constructive criticism welcomed! Gonna wait a bit. Maybe a week.
Or not. I have no idea.
* Color, shape and basic look show what House they're from, what social status, and power.
