Warning: Gore and death are present in this chapter.
Mission One
"Her eyes even glow through their eyelids." At the sound my eyes were wide open. I sent a mini glare towards the sound only to find myself looking into the eyes of Machi. "Don't like being woken up?" She asked with her eyebrow raised. I released a soundless sigh realizing how stupid my anger was and shook my head.
"Get ready, we leave in a few minutes." Chrollo said from next to Machi. I nodded this time and grabbed a my few things. Within a minute I was dressed and outside with my bag slung over my shoulder and packed with food and clothes. I was about to walk past Chrollo and Machi who were waiting for me when I felt something grab my bag and pull me back to them. I looked up at the older spiders as Machi took my bag from me and Chrollo took my coat and scythe..
"Take our your wings." Chrollo said making my face turn into confusion. "Your wings will be useful if you can fly." I nodded, that was obvious. "So I'm not going to let you walk there. You will have to follow us from the air." My eyes widened and I quickly scribbled out my response
'I have yet to get airborne and stay stable.' I wrote remembering all the times I fell out of the sky.
"First time for everything." Machi said as she started to walk away following Chrollo. I went to take a step to find my legs wouldn't move and ended up on my face. I rolled over and used Gyo to see nen threads around my feet tying them together. I had no Idea when they got there but it only meant they would for sure leave me if I couldn't fly. I sat on my heels and slowly let out my wings.
Once the black wings were formed I decided to try to take fight right away... which ended up with me getting a face full of trash. I shifted my wings to keep them stable and tried again, this time lasting longer, but when I turned to start gliding forward I pointed to far down and ended up on my face again. If I hadn't been using my nen to shield me, I would've died a long time ago.
It must've been my desperation to follow them that made my third attempt work, I gained altitude and slowly leaned forward, flapped my wings a bit, then held them steady and started gliding. I decided to gain more altitude, so I flapped my wings flying higher. My problem was I wasn't controlling both wings at the same time, a stupid mistake but I fixed it.
I realized they were a bit to my left and ahead of me so I tried to steer. I leaned left and tilted my wings a bit to tilt slightly sideways and turn. I grinned widely at this. I was finally using my wings. I then leaned right and tilted my wings the other way, another perfect turn.
I started having too much fun when I went to see how fast I could fly. flapping my wings harder and tilting down towards the ground I gained speed quickly and then leveled out gliding at speeds I didn't expect. The ground was passing by so fast I could barely see it, This was probably about the max speed I could run at. Crashing would mean large amounts of pain, but the joy I felt in that moment clouded any worry I had.
As I flew towards the spiders, I realized I was laughing. It made no sound of course but I was laughing. In that moment I just wanted to shout for joy.
As I got close to the spiders Machi perked her head up as if noticing something and turned around to see me flying at her while Chrollo merely stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. Neither of them seemed to care that I was flying dangerously fast directly at them. I smiled even bigger seeing them notice me and flew just over their heads.
I decided I wasn't quite done flying yet so I tilted up and glided up above the trash filled land again. My red hair billowing behind me I stalled and started to fall back to earth for me to just flip backwards and continue downwards. Once I was close to the ground again I tilted up and shot past the ground again. I twisted my wings and did a few barrel rolls while gaining altitude and turned one spin into a left turn.
The smile still on my face I decided to fly back to the spiders. Halfway through the turn I saw them a ways back. I kept gliding all the way there slowly slowing myself down. Once I got close I realized I hadn't practiced landing. I decided to try anyways.
Coating myself in my aura to protect myself I flapped my wings and leaned back to stand upright in the air. I flapped my wings to slow myself and eventually slowed down enough to place a foot on the ground. Figuring I would run off the rest of my momentum, I went to take another step to find my feet were still bound by Machi's nen. Sure enough I landed on my face and slid on the dirt for a few feet. At least we were out of the garbage.
I just lay there feeling embarrassed, but thankfully not hurt due to my nen protection. Footsteps soon made their way to me but I just lay there and buried my face deeper into the ground in embarrassment. I heard Machi laugh causing me to feel worse.
"What happened?" Chrollo spoke up. Not removing my face from the ground I lifted my legs behind me and pointed to my ankles where the threads were still in place.
"He he." I heard Machi sheepishly laugh from above me. Finally removing my face from the dirt I locked my glowing red orbs onto her blue ones. I was staring at her until she spoke again. "What?" she asked. "It's not like I meant it... I just forgot." she finished mumbling.
I then poked her foot and she looked at me again. I then pointed to my feed that were still tied together. She sighed and made the threads disappear. I moved to sit up and bowed my head to say thanks. I stood, dusted myself off and we continued walking to our destination.
Around fifteen hours of walking in silence later, Chrollo started to speak up again. "We are getting near." he said looking at me. "This is going to be your first test." My eyebrows furrowed, I was told nothing about this. "Your first job from me, If you fail you won't be joining the spiders just yet." I sighed and nodded knowing I should've expected as much. "Good, now let's get through the mission details."
"First off, there are no rules to how you complete it, so long as you leave no details about us behind, so everything goes." he paused. "Up ahead Is a mansion owned by a greedy rich man. He has recently gotten his hands on something I want." I nodded to show I was listening. "What we are here to obtain is an ancient book. It's made of nen and said to hold secrets of nen, Its disguised as a simple fairy tale book, but if you read it using Gyo you will be able to see the real words on the pages." I nodded in understanding again. "How you find it is up to you, so long as it ends up in my hands before the morning."
'So you both will stay here?' I wrote out to Chrollo.
"Not quite. Sending you on a test and not watching it would kind of be a waste would it not? So I'm sending Machi with you, she will only intervene if you are in danger, even If you decide not to sneak, she will remain unseen." I nodded feeling slightly better knowing I was safe if I ran into someone strong. "Any other questions?"
I wrote down one more. 'What's the book look like?'
"From what I heard, Its fairly large all black with white outlines around it. If using Gyo It's supposed to have a title, yet I have no idea what It says." I nodded. "Anything else?" I shook my head and walked ahead on the cobble stone path with Machi following.
As soon as I saw the mansion I felt the wind behind me shift and I felt Machi's presence disappear from behind me. Walking towards the gate I looked at the giant house before me. It was huge with a huge wall around it, just past the gate was a giant garden with a driveway leading up to a roundabout around a fountain just in front of the front door. The gate I was walking towards had a guard house behind it with a few people inside, I would prefer to avoid them since I was unsure how many there actually were within the large house.
I quietly brought my wings out and within a few seconds they were fully completed. I stretched them out and took off away from the mansion. Once I decided I was high enough to not be noticed, I turned around and glided through the night sky towards the lit up mansion. I was surprised I was able to make it into the air with my scythe and coat on but overall had no trouble at all. I flew slowly and eventually made it right over the top of the mansion. I tilted upwards to slow myself and eventually made my first perfect landing on the slope of the mansion. I found an open window, climbed in, and started my search.
The first thing I noticed about the room I was in is it was a library, however a small one. A few rows of book shelves but a quick search with Gyo showed me my target was not here. Since I had just created my wings, I would have to wait an hour to call them off. I folded my wings, took a breath, and walked out into a dark hallway.
Based off the look outside, I figured the house held three stories all together. With me entering from the roof, I was now on the highest floor. Since I was unable to speak I wanted to refrain from interrogation, unless it might turn out easier to do so. I was also unable to use En to search the house. I could hold En an arm's length all the way around me for maybe ten seconds before I passed out, but even that was impressive to Chrollo. However to search the house I would have to make my En many, many times that to even search a single room.
No I couldn't do that. I leaned against a wall and thought for a bit longer, my glowing red eyes dimly lighting up the area in front of me. My left arm across my stomach holding my right hand on my chin in thought, I leaned against the wall with my right boot against the wall and my left planted on the ground, my thinking pose.
"No En, No torture, what else is there." I was suddenly pulled out of my thought by a presence next to me. I jumped and turned to look directly into the eyes of Machi. She gave me a look with a raised eyebrow at my jumpiness. I calmed my heart and remembered I left her to fly here. I pulled out my pen and started to write to her when I caught myself mid word.
'Don't scare me by using Zet-' I stopped writing and figured out my plan. Since I couldn't use en to find It, why not search for it using Zetsu? Zetsu, while closing your nodes cuts off your supply of aura, making you more vulnerable but also undetectable. Since you're more vulnerable, you can sense it easier. Maybe if I go around in Zetsu I might be able to pick up feint traces of the book since It is made of Nen. I slammed my fist down into my open palm and walked away from Machi who gave me a weird look.
I immediately turned on my heel and started walking to the end of the hallway in Zetsu. I walked all around the third floor and felt nothing, so continued to the second where I felt some traces of nen. I walked towards It quietly and eventually came across a lit up room with three people in it.
All three of the men in the room were dressed in a guard outfit, each had a radio and knew some type of nen based off their auras. Since I had no Idea how strong they were and hadn't changed my feathers weight for a ranged stealth take down I decided to sneak away and continue my search. I followed a few more Nen trails on the second floor but found no book, just more guards. The same happened on the first floor, just many more guards.
I sighed, it had been thirty minutes of me sneaking around the mansion, yet there was no sign of the book at all. I paced in another dark hallway until I sensed someone walking towards me, I checked my Zetsu and flew into a room quietly the room ended up being a bathroom.
I pressed myself flat against the wall next to the door, my scythe was next to me but the scythe blade was going over the door. As the footsteps neared I noticed two pairs of footsteps coming towards me and voices. I decided to listen in on their conversation.
"Sorry you have to accompany me, I don't understand why the boss suddenly raised the security." One of the two said.
"Ever since he got that book the security has gone up drastically. Did you ever get a chance to see it?" The second one said.
"Yea, and let me tell you there's something off about it. It's practically glowing in Nen, like its alive or something." he paused right outside the door."Wonder if he thinks anyone will try to steal it, If it's so much trouble then why did he even buy it?" as he went to open the door he paused as it was partially open "Just wait right there, I'll be done in just a sec."
As the door opened I pressed myself closer to the wall. The door swung open covering me completely. The man, without looking kicked the door closed behind him. I quickly lowered my stance and shot towards the man without making a sound. I created one of my feather blades in my hand and quickly put it through the back of the large mans neck and through his throat. His hands shot up to his neck and there was a gurgling sound before the man fell limp against the floor with a crash.
There was instant knocking on the door from the man outside. "Hey, is everything ok in there?" He knocked a few more times before speaking again. "I'm coming in." he announced. I stood on the other side of the door this time and already had my notes written in my hand.
The man opened the door and I quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him in and closed the door. I slammed him face first onto the floor. I placed my knee into his back and pulled him up by his neck with my other hand covering his mouth. I lowered my first note to his face so he could see it.
'You will answer my question quietly and quickly or you will die painfully slow.' was my first note. He tried to nod. I then uncovered his mouth, moved that hand to hold his neck again and slowed him my next note. 'Where is the book.'
"What book?" The dumbass answered. I dropped the note and grabbed him by the mouth again and his arm. I bent it backwards at the elbow and listened to the sickening snap echo through the walls of the bathroom. His whimpers were muffled through my hand. After he quieted down I grabbed him by the neck and picked up the same note.
"Ok, Ok." He said quickly. "Last I heard, the boss reads it to his daughter at night, her room is the attic. You should be able to catch him there still." He replied quickly while trying not to look at his dead friend in front of him. "Will you let me go now?" I answered his question by cutting his throat with another feather.
Once his limp body hit the floor I looked at my work. The two men were lying on the floor dead. Both of them killed by me. I expected to feel more, however I felt nothing but the feeling of nearly completing my job. I was neither exited nor saddened by it. It was basically a means to an end.
I picked up my scythe and exited the bathroom smelling of death. I shrugged it off, figuring it was nothing compared to the Kurta massacre. I took off at a quick speed towards the stairs. I remembered where they were easily. I heard the light footfalls of the older spider right behind me reminding me that this is indeed a test. I rounded the corner to see two men in guard uniforms at the bottom of the stairs with their backs turned to me. Without breaking my fast speed I plunged one of my feathers into the back of the left man's head while the one on my right got decapitated by my scythe as I ran by. I was up the stairs before either of their bodies hit the floor.
Once at the third floor I slowed my pace to look for another set of stairs or something. I activated Gyo just in case I missed something. I ran down the hallways quietly but stopped when I heard a voice. "I'll be right back honey. I got a call from Gabriel." I quickly threw myself into another room an closed the door quietly once I closed the door I heard the man talking to someone over a radio. "What do you mean he's dead?" The man cried. "So there's someone in the mansion." the radio made some more sound before the man spoke up again. "Alright then, you send your best men to look after my daughter and the book. I'm already here." at the sound of the radio clicking off I stepped out of the room to confront the man.
Once I saw him, I noticed how he could be taken for greedy. The short chubby man before me wore rich clothes and had gold jewelry all over him. He was bald and definitely overweight. The man turned towards me once he saw the faint glow from my eyes. Once his eyes caught my form I stretched my wings and held my scythe over my head and quickly slashed my scythe down on the man killing him instantly with a clean cut through his head.
I quietly walked up the stairs that fell from the ceiling and came into a small cozy room with a woman strapped to the bed. She was squirming until she saw me. Instead of getting scared, she seemed to smile to me. I looked towards her in confusion. The woman was definitely insane, yet seemed to calm down at my presence. Her eyes flicked from me towards the book on the nightstand next to her. I activated Gyo again and noticed the glow of Nen on the book.
I quickly picked the book up and looked at it to double check. Once I opened the book I saw what Chrollo meant. Using Gyo I was able to read something completely different from when I normally looked at the pages. I turned to leave, but when I did the girl on the bed started making noise and struggling again. I turned to look at her again, we locked eyes again and she stopped struggling again.
"End her." I jumped at the sound and turned to see it was Machi who spoke to me. I turned to look at the girl who was still smiling at me. "I think she wants you to end her." the girl started moving again. I looked back towards her and she started nodding almost pleadingly. I wrote a note and showed it to the girl.
'Are you sure?' I held it up to the woman but as she looked at it, her eyebrows furrowed. Assuming she couldn't read I gave it to Machi who read it aloud. The girl hearing the words of my note started nodding again. I made another feather and cut the straps on her bed and handed her the sharp feather. I the scribbled another note to Machi who read it off again.
'If you want to die, Then do it yourself.' were the cold words that sounded even colder from Machi's voice. With that we both left the room. As we reached the bottom of the stairs I heard the sound of a body hitting the floor. That was the first time I flinched the whole night. I felt Machi's hand on my shoulder so I quickly scribbled another note
'See you back at Chrollo.' With the book under my arm I placed my scythe on my back and walked to the end of the hallway where there was an open window. I jumped out and stretched my wings. Within a minute I was standing next to Chrollo again but this time with the book he wanted.
"So how was the mission?" Chrollo asked. I shrugged but was still thinking about that girl. "Is something wrong?" He asked but had no concern in his voice. I decided to explain.
'I killed five or so people tonight, I felt nothing while killing them at all.' I wrote 'However there was a girl in the room with the book. I had killed people tonight and am covered in blood, yet when she saw me she only seemed happy.' I handed him the notes and continued to my third one. 'The thing is she wanted to die and I don't understand why. She had a shot at a second chance so I freed her from her bindings and gave her a knife. She killed herself.' I finished the third note and quickly went to the fourth. 'It makes no sense but she is the one death tonight that I feel anything for, yet it wasn't me who killed her.' I explained
"Well what do you feel for her?" he asked sounding genuinely curious. So I wrote out one more note.
'All I feel is disappointment.' I wrote. Once Machi got back we I handed Chrollo the book and we started walking off again. 'So where do we go now?' I asked
"We now introduce you to the rest of the troupe again, but this time as our new member." he explained. I couldn't help but feel exited about that. After all my training I will finally be able to do what I trained for, and maybe the troupe would accept me like Chrollo and Machi have.
"But first let's get all that blood off you."Chrollo suddenly said "While I wanted to get to the hideout tonight, we changed plans last night so we could obtain this book, so we might as well rest until tomorrow."
After an hour walk we ended up in a random family's house. The inhabitants didn't expect death was waiting for them that night. I hadn't taken up in killing the family since I had just completed my mission, but that didn't stop me from jumping in the shower.
.
.
.
"So how'd she do?" Chrollo asked Machi after they heard the water running.
"She did fine, actually her ability surprised me a bit." Machi replied "She was able to kill two nen users within a second while running and without hesitation."
"I knew she would pass the little test." Chrollo said with a bit of pride. "I don't take many students you know." Machi only nodded and put her legs up. "So do you approve of he being the new leg?"
"She has a lot of potential, and she's already strong enough that we don't have to protect her." Machi said "And she already is much easier to deal with than most the others, so I find no harm in her being here."
"I want you to partner with her. I'll have Pakudona keep me company." Machi nodded again. "Just show her the ropes, and if you both like it why not make it permanent." With that Chrollo stood up and walked to the parents' bedroom leaving Machi to think on his words. She soon wandered to another room to get some shuteye.
END
I'm sorry everyone, I feel this chapter is a bit lacking and I had a lot of time to fix it up. Basically I just wanted to introduce her skills a tad bit, I hope it made sense to everyone and next chapter will have the other spiders in it as well. I might as well get started
I not only accept criticism I welcome it, anything that might help me get better. I appreciate all of you for even taking the time to read this. While I might not be the best writer, I only hope to be good enough to entertain you. So please let me know what you think.