A/n: Hey everyone! Are you all doing well? The world has been kinda crazy lately, and I really hope that you're all doing amazing and that you're safe. It might sound like a lie - but I care about all of you. You've all helped me through some rough times in my life, so I sincerely hope that you're doing well, too.
I started watching HunterxHunter early last year, but put it on hold for some unknown reason. I've recently started watching it and reading it again and have fallen back in love. And you all know that I couldn't resist writing a story on it. It would be wise to keep in mind that I am still very new to this series and am learning as I go. I might make mistakes here and there, so please be patient and gentle with me - I'm delicate.
The story does follow along with the canon since I'm not very far in to the story. However, I am going to take my time with this story. I don't immediately want to rush things too quickly. While I'll be focusing on canon, there will also be new elements in characters added to the story, and new arcs that will benefit my character and the others as well. As well as simple chapters, that explore the characters more and give them a break from death. So, this will be a slow burn. If you don't like slow-paced stories then you probably won't enjoy this one.
My character is paired with Hisoka because I absolutely love him. I recently discovered I have a love of psycho characters, and Hisoka is the perfect example of that; sexy, too. God damn - I love this clown. Of course it's not going to be your average relationship that's filled with love and fluff, but instead, it's going to be one of fear, hatred, pain, torture...lust? All those fun things! :D Though, there is some hints of my character and Kurapika tossed in there, too.
Also, first person because...why not?
Summary: They say that everyone in the world is connected by a red thread to someone else in the world. If I had known that - I would have cut yours much sooner.
Trickery of The Heart: The Threads of Fate
Chapter One: Cursed Luck
I've done a lot of things in my life that I'm not proud of - I don't regret them. Where I grew up, how I lived, and the things I saw are enough to traumatize a person for the rest of their life. I'm not them. I'm strong, and I know the bullshit logic behind this universe we live in. I know that in order to survive you have to suck up your pride and do the things you swore you would never, ever, do.
Steal, cheat, lie, beg...
Murder.
Whatever it takes.
I sighed and brushed some loose hair out of my face. I really liked my hair! A silver-ish white color, that faded to a pinkish-purple that curled at the ends, just barely brushing against my shoulder. It wasn't natural, of course, but I loved it regardless. It made my already bright pink eyes look even bright, though it freaked people out at times. It's not like it's the weirdest thing in the world, considering the kind of place we live in and the crazy hairstyles I've seen in my life.
Bored out of my mind I curled my knees to my chest and folded my dark-skinned arms over them. I cast a look around the room at everyone who had arrived so far but there wasn't really anyone of interesting. I thought that arriving as early as I could would be beneficial in the long run, but it was turning out to be a real snooze fest.
Smart, Illusia. Real smart.
Oh, never introduced myself, did I? I'm Illusia - Illusia Dreamure - 18th person to arrive to the 287th hunter examination. Yes, my name is corny - thanks.
I'm not really anyone of importance. I'm just a fifteen year old girl going on sixteen trying to make her place in this miserable world. Aside from my hair and eyes I don't really stand out much. As I said before, I have really dark skin, and I'm super short and super chubby - but it doesn't bother me. Not everyone in life can be a gorgeous stick-figure with perfect hair and titties, though I fucking wished.
Ah, getting of track, aren't I?
Everyone around me seemed to be dressed practically and it made me wonder if I had overdressed or not. I twirled the thread of red yarn tied around my neck with cheap golden beads skewered on it, and glanced down at my outfit of choice; a black turtleneck that cropped under the bust with the sleeves missing, a pair of dark-washed jeans that disappeared into a pair of pink and white high tops with black accents, and a red checkered shirt tied around my waist.
On second glance, I didn't think it looked too bad.
I hummed and leaned back against the wall I was sitting on. This would be my first year - only year, hopefully - taking the hunter exam, and I was feeling a little nervous, but also really excited. I've never really had a chance before now to see what I can really do. Well, that wasn't completely true. There was that one time I faced off against him. Back when I was fourteen I believed that I was hot shit and could take on the world and come out unscathed. My over inflated ego drove me to challenging a man much stronger than me, that nearly killed me and left me with some very hideous scars.
He had called them "gifts" to remember him by.
I scowled as memories began to resurface. Feeling self-conscious I grabbed my black and pink backpack - what? I like the combination - beside of me and pulled out a large red hoodie that I quickly put on and zipped up. Now the only scar of mine that people would be able to see were the ones on my face and neck:
A diamond-shaped scar under my left eye.
A criss-crossed scar on my neck.
A tiny, heart, carved into my right cheek.
All of the "gifts" that he had given me.
All of them were "gifts"; ugly, painful, gifts.
I never, ever, wanted to see that man again in my life. He was only one of the few people in the world who could scare me with nothing more that a simple glance and challenging smirk. Oh yes, that man knew how to crawl under my skin, and toy with my every last nerve.
The thought of him had my heart racing and my leg rapidly bouncing up and down. I shook my head desperately trying to get the thought of him out of my mind but it proved to be difficult. When I felt my breathing begin to quicken, and my body begin to numb is when I pulled a little orange bottle from my bag, and hurriedly popped two little white pills in my mouth.
"Happy pills" I liked to call them. They kept me happy and sane, and prevented me from losing my focus so that I wouldn't...lose control. I gave a shaky sigh and leaned my head back against the wall. The pills would start working their magic very soon, so until then I just needed to relax and keep my mind calm and steady, and keep my priorities on the exam.
"Hey! You're a new face around here, aren't you?"
I sighed and cracked a pink eye open. A pig-nosed man stared down at me, with a smile on his face. He was the 16th person to arrive to the exam - according to his badge.
"I can tell because this is my 35th attempt! You could say that I'm a hunter exam veteran." The man laughed.
I blinked. "You've taken the exam that many times and still haven't become a hunter?" A coy smile toyed at my plump lips coated in purple lipstick. "Well, aren't you just pathetic." I grinned watching his smile crumble and his eyes narrow.
The man laughed dryly and stretched his hand out. I stared at it, but made no motion to shake. A bit taken aback he offered an apology and sheepishly laughed it off.
"A-Anyways if you have any questions I'd be happy to help! Oh, and by the way, my name is Tonpa! It's nice to meet you." Tonpa bowed and scratched the back of his head in an innocent manner.
"The name is Illusia. Illusia Dreamure. Don't forget it, okay?" I grinned hoping to my feet and pulling my hood down some. It nearly killed me inside when I noticed that the pig-faced man was a little bit taller than myself.
Tonpa's eyes lit up as he rummaged around the bag he was carrying. "Hey Illusia, how about a toast to friendship?" Tonpa grinned pulling out two cans of soda.
"Soda?" I tucked my fist against my hips. Tonpa nodded nervously at me. I smirked and held out my hand and cautiously accepted the yellow can with a picture of a smiling lemon. Lemonade? I cringed. I was more in favor of sweets and candies over anything that tasted bitter or sour tasting. Still, I accepted the soda can and rolled it around in my hands. I carefully checked the labels and expiration date. Well, so far, so good.
"I guess I am pretty thirsty after the long trip here." I said and popped the soda tab. As I drew the soda can to my lips I noticed that something was off about the drink.
My nose twitched. An odorless lemonade? My pink-eyes narrowed on the can and my brows crinkled. I swishes the contents of the can around and noticed the lemonade seemed to be clotting as I did so.
Well isn't that just interesting.
I glared at Tonpa. "Ah, that's how it is, huh? Honestly...how stupid do you believe me to be? You think I don't know this thing is full of poison?" I held the can up to his face. "I bet you think that shoving some laxtives in a can of soda makes you some kind of genius, huh, Tonpa the Rookie Crusher."
Tonpa's eyes widened. Not because she had figured out his identity somehow, or that she knew the drink was poisoned, but because of the faint pink glow around her eyes.
"H-How?!..."
"How did I know?" I smirked. "Let's just say that I have my sources, okay? You wouldn't want to get hurt - would you?" The sweat pouring down his face made me want to bust out laughing. "It would be very wise of you not to pull anymore of your little tricks on me, least you want this to be the end of your track record, understood?"
Tonpa at a loss for words furiously shook his head.
"Good." I said patting his head. "It was nice meeting you too, Tonpa." With that I smiled and strutted away from the pig-nosed man.
Tonpa stood there wordlessly trying to figure the strange girl out. The pig-faced man glared coldly in the direction that Illusia had went off to with sweat threading his brow. What the hell was wrong with the rookies this year? They're completely insane!
Tonpa smirked.
Heh. Fine.
It would only make crushing them the more fun.
After the little session I had with Tonpa I had decided to take a little nap while everyone slowly began to arrive. My dreamless sleep was awakened by a man wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase yelling at pig-nose. I snorted. It looked like Tonpa had tried his little trick on them, too. Honestly, would that man never learn? One day he was going to get himself hurt - or killed.
I yawned and and decided to stretch out my body. I then gathered my bag and slipped it over my back and stretched out my aching muscles. I glanced over at the new group who also seemed to be the last and blinked. Had I really been sleeping that long? Jeez. In my defense I hadn't had a good place to sleep in along, long while, so I figured it was justified.
I decided to investigate the new group and strolled over to them. A little boy dressed in green with a fishing pole on his back was the first to take notice of me. He gave a real big smile and wave and introduced himself as Gon. Fuck. This kid is really fucking cute. He reminds me a little bit of Yeraz...
I wonder how their doing?...
Shit. No. Stop it. If you start thinking about them then you're going to get distracted. Focus, Illsuia.
Any doubt that had been on my face was wiped away and replaced with a smile. "Hey-ya Gon! My name is Illusia. It's nice to meet you too, kid. But what the heck is someone like you doing in a place like this? You're like ten!" I exclaimed and chuckled at his pouting face. The exam didn't really have an age restriction, but it's still slightly off-putting to see a child so young participating.
Gon's eyes burned. "I'm twelve! And I'm going to be a hunter!" He declared proudly. "Oh! And this is Leorio -" he pointed to the suit-wearing man " - And Kurapika!" He then pointed to a blond-haired boy who could easily pass for a female.
"Hey there." I lazily waved. "Nice to meet you all. I see that you had a little run in with Tonpa, huh? Yeah, don't mind him. He's just a jerk who goes around trying to undermine the rookies. They call him Tonpa the Rookie Crusher. I guess you gentlemen can handle yourselves though since you figured out those soda cans were full of poison."
Gon and Leorio blinked. "POISON?!"
"You...didn't know?" They shook their heads. "Oh man! That's hilarious!" I roared clutching my sides as I was laughing so hard. Gon pouted and Leorio told me to me to shut my mouth while Kurapika just sighed. "Don't look so glum, chums! This is my first year here too. I probably would have fell for his little ruse too, if I hadn't noticed there wasn't any odor or looked inside of the can." I chuckled and scratched at my cheek. "So uh, what made you -"
My sentence was cut off by a blood-curdling scream that sent shivers down my spine. All of our heads immediately whipped towards a man crumbling to his knees with pure horror on his face as his arm disintegrate in to...cherry blossoms? I felt my eyes widened as a murderous intent filled the room and crawled down my back.
No. There's no way. Don't tell me that!...
"Oh, how strange."
My body went rigid.
"He doesn't have any arms. That's just magic, ladies and gentlemen." Said a tall man, with slicked back red hair and predator-like golden eyes. "You have to be careful. And don't forget to apologize when you bump into someone."
The world around me seemed to stop as fear took a hold of my heart. The scars on my body tingled and terror paralyzed my body. My heart started to race at the speed of light and sweat quickly formed on my body. Every single one of my sense was telling me to run and never look back. How...how could this be? I had hoped to every fucking God above that I would never EVER have to see this man again in my life, and that if I did it would be in a body bag.
"Hisoka." The worlds trembled off of my lips in a breathless whisper. "What are you doing here?" I asked no one. I was so lost in shock and fear that I hadn't even noticed Kurapika watching me like a hawk.
"Great, they're allowing that psychopath to take the exam again? There are just some guys here you shouldn't trust." Tonpa glared. "Number 44: Hisoka the Magician. Last year, everyone swore that he would have been the one to win, but he almost killed an examiner just because he didn't like him. He was disqualified after that."
"You mean they're allowing him to retake the test?!" Leorio yelled.
"Sure!" Tonpa shrugged. "The Examiners change ever year. They are the one's that choose the rules of the test. There's no rule that says he can't. The devil himself could take this very test and the Examiners wouldn't even bat an eyelash."
I watched Hisoka walk away with people hurrying to get out of his path. Smart move.
"Last year, he mutilated not only the judge, but 20 other participants that you won't see this year. I would try to avoid him as much as possible..."
"You don't have to tell me twice." I said through quivering lips. "Hisoka...you bastard." My fear slowly melted into anger.
I swear on everything that I'll kill you...one day.
My body was shaking with anger at this point. I could feel the blood seeping into the palm of my hands from my nails digging into them, and the glow of my eyes getting stronger with every second I stared at him.
Hisoka stopped walking. His upper body twisted just enough, so that he was looking back towards our little group with a coy smile on his painted face - his eyes narrowed and reminding me of a snake chasing after its prey; shifty, and unnerving. My anger melted once again replaced by fear as I quickly ducked my head and prayed her hadn't recognized me.
A minute later he smirked and walked away.
The breath I had been holding was released.
My thoughts were broken by a weird scream bouncing off the walls of the tunnel. A toy head, held by a man dressed in proper attire with waved hair. He appeared to be semi-normal...except the lack of mouth. The wall began to rise behind him revealing a long, dark corridor. He pressed a button on the screaming head to make it stop screaming - good, that thing was starting to get annoying.
"Greetings everyone. I apologize for the delay that you've all endured. Thank you for waiting." He bowed. "The entry period for hunter applicants is officially closed. So with no further ado, the hunter exam will now begin."
I swallowed a lump in my throat. This is it. No turning back now.
"I have one final word of caution for you all. If you're short on luck, or ability, I advise you to keep in mind that you could end up seriously injured. Death is another distinct possibility."
My eyes landed on Hisoka.
"If you're willing to accept the risks involved I'll ask you to follow me now." He held out a hand. "But for the rest of you - kindly exit through the elevator located behind you."
No one budged.
"Very well! All applicants will not participate in phase one." The man then suddenly began to walk away like a robot on drugs.
It started off brisk, and then the speed began to pick up more and more. I was broke out into a sprint before I even knew it trying to play catch-up with the strange man, with no mouth.
How could he talk or eat?!
Satotz informed us that we were currently in the first trial of the exam, and that we were to follow him. He never said for how long, which made me believe this was going to be a really long trip.
Great. As long as there were no stairs involved them I should be fine. Running up stairs is the worst feeling in the world.
I swear someone above was pulling strings when it came to me. It would explain everything about my life perfectly, and why I was currently running up a fucking staircase trying not to lose my shit! My body was aching, and my stomach was starting to feel sick. I had been tempted to stop and rest several times but pushed on. This was an endurance test, after all, and there was no way I was going to fail the first damn test!
I pushed myself to press on and was relieved when I seen light ahead. I was almost knocked off my feet by a blur of white and green yelling: "GOAL!". It was Gon, and a boy with white hair named Killua, who had the prettiest eyes and a deadly aura. I wouldn't be surprised if the kid came from some kind of killer background, since he certainly had the aura for it; but he was adorable, and no different than any other kid in my eyes.
What? I'm have a weakness for kids. Wait - that sounded wrong!
I collapsed onto the ground once we made it outside. I swallowed the fresh air and hung my head back. I felt disgusting from all the sweat covering me but I refused to take off my hoodie. The moment I did, then he would take notice of me, and that's not something that I felt with dealing like now, or ever again.
Instead I pulled out a bottle of water and chugged half of it down. Gon and Killua were arguing about who was the first one to cross the finish line and even dragged Satotz into it. Kurapika and Leorio were the last one's to make it out of the tunnel that had closed just as a man made it to the top. Illusia felt a bit of pity for him, but it was all for one in this game.
I pulled out two more bottle of water from my bag and tossed one to Kurapika, and the other to a shirtless Leorio. Huh, not bad, for an old man.
Kurapika thanked me and settled down on the ground beside me while Leorio all but inhaled his water in one gulp. We were given a short break to regain our breaths and get the feeling back into our legs, which I was very grateful for.
"Hey, Illusia, can I ask you a question?" Kurapika panted out.
I took another drink and nodded. "Yeah, go for it." I told him and toyed with my necklace.
Kurapika stared at me for a minute as he thought about what he wanted to say. "Back in the tunnel...you seemed very on edge when you noticed Hisoka - fearful, even. You looked like you were on the verge on a panic attack." Kurapika's eyes held suspicion. "Do you know one another?"
Unfortunately.
"Lower you voice!" I hissed and glanced over to where Hisoka was standing. He didn't even look affected by the run. Smug bastard. I sighed, and scooted closer to Kurapika so that I could whisper. He blushed a little, which I found incredibly cute. "I'm not in some kind of alliance with him or anything, if that's what you're thinking. But I do know him, unfortunately. It's not really something I like speaking about...but, we have a history...I've fought him in the past, and lost." My eyes darkened.
"And you lived?" Kurapika was surprised. "How?"
"Hisoka likes to keep people he deems "worthy" alive, so that he has stronger toys to play with in the future." I looked down at the ground and rubbed at my arms. "I didn't leave that battle unscathed. Hisoka's parting gifts to me were the scars I bare, and the memories that won't go away."
"Scars?" He frowned. I nodded and angled my head to show him the scars splitting my mouth into a smile, as well as the scars on my cheek and neck. "I see. I'm sorry for accusing you earlier. Though I am impressed that you were able to hold your own in battle against him at such a young age, and that you were able to calm yourself down and not let your emotions get the better of you back there."
I smiled at Kurapika who smiled back. Well isn't he just adorable! "Thanks, Kurapika. But this stays between you, me, and Leorio, okay?"
The shirtless man chocked on his water and stared at me with wide eyes. "W-What are you talking about?!" He huffed. "I don't know anything."
"Oh come on! I know you were listening, pops! It was written all over your face." I grinned at his reddening face. "And I know your hearing hasn't gone yet."
"Shut it, fatso! I'm a teen just like you!"
I hid my laughter behind my hands as Kurapika scolded Leorio for being rude and demanded he apologize, which he did, half-assed. I laughed and shook my head.
"Don't worry about it. He's not the first one to use my weight against me and he won't be the last. It doesn't really bother me anymore, so I just laugh it off." I grinned and stuck my thumbs up. Kurapika nodded and Leorio looked away with flushing cheeks mumbling something under his breath.
Wow-oh-wow. These guys were just too cute! Heh, I think I liked them. I looked over at Gon and Killua who were playing some little game and my grin grew even more.
Yeah. I definitely liked these guys.
Gods above, don't take this away from me too, okay?
For once, I'd like to experience happiness, thank you very much.
I had to take a moment and laugh to myself. The Gods? Be kind to me? What a joke. My life was filled with cursed luck, and that was never going to change. I guess that just means that I'll have to be careful with those I choose to let in and grow closer too; I won't hurt them.
I won't make those mistakes again.