A murky blackness surrounded Ashe as her consciousness slowly drifted in and out. She twitched slightly as she heard a voice call out to her in the darkness.
"she...he...Ashe!"
The voice slowly grew louder and louder in her ears as she faded back into consciousness. Her eyes opened sluggishly. Concerned brown and blue eyes soon came into focus.
"Gon...Killua..?" Ashed asked hoarsely.
Gon beamed at her while Killua just sighed and closed his eyes.
"You idiot. You made Gon and everyone else worry." Killua said crossing his arms and glaring at her softly.
She a sheepish smile spread across her face as sat up groaning. Gon grabbed Ashe's hand and helped her sit up.
"What happened to you?" Kurapika asked stepping up to the group.
Ashe sighed and looked down frowning. "I don't remember. After that weird scary man bit down on Cerberus' leg I...I blacked out. When I came to I was in a hallway with my head bleeding and Cerberus whimpering."
It was silent for a moment till Leorio stepped up and knelt down in front of her smiling warmly with a tinge of sadness seeping in.
"I'll check your head when we get out of here ok?" He said in a comforting tone.
Ashe nodded tearing up a bit then hugged him. He hugged her back and picked her up walking toward their group who was by the door leading out of Trick Tower. Ashe pressed her face In Leorio's neck as the light got too bright for her.
"Well now that we're all here, my name is Lippo. As some of you may know I run Trick Tower. You will all be drawing slots. We will call you up in the order that you finished the tower. The fourth phase will be taking place over there, on Zevil Island." Lippo said smirking the whole time he was speaking as he pointed behind him to an island in the distance
After everyone had gotten their card, Lippo told them to remove the white sticker on the card and it revealed a number.
"That number on your card is your is your target. You must collect their badged by any means necessary. That means you have been given permission to kill your target. Your badge is worth 3 points to you and the person targeting you. Anyone else's badge is worth 1 point. By the end of the end of the week you must collect 6 points in order to go on to the next phase. A boat will take you to your destination. That is all and good luck. You'll need it." Lippo said walking them to the boat where a girl was waiting for them.
Leorio sat Ashe down as soon as they were on the boat and opened his briefcase getting out what he needed. After about 15 minutes he had finished disinfecting and bandaging her head. He had put all his stuff away and pulled out a needle and filled it with a liquid pain medicine. Ashe immediately backed away from Leorio.
Leorio looked at her confused. "What's wrong Ashe?"
"Keep that thing away from me." she said eyeing the needle cautiously.
"But it's to help with the pain. It's okay to be scared of needles ya know." he said softly.
"No! Keep that away from me!" She yelled pressing herself into a corner shaking slightly.
Leorio looked at her confused then turned to Kurapika to see if he knew something. which he shook his head to to Leorio's silent question.
"My...my 'father' used to experiment on me. J-just please stay away from me with that. Please." Ashe said on the verge of crying.
Leorio was speechless. To think someone who can smile as bright as her went through something like that was unimaginable.
"Ashe...I-I'm sorry you went through that but please I just don't want you to hurt anymore. I swear on my pledge to become a doctor I will never hurt you." he pleaded with her
Ashe hesitated a long while before very slowly going over to him. She put her arm out looking away. Leorio immediately went to work giving her the shot as quickly as possible. Ashe winced and took a deep breath calming herself down, bringing her arm close to her body once he was finished.
"Thank you Leorio." She mumbled getting up to go find Gon and Killua, Cerberus trailing behind her.
Upon finding them she sat next to Gon and leaned against him. Cerberus laid down across her lap.
"What numbers do you guys have?" She asked after a pause.
Gon and Killua looked at each other before nodding.
"Well we already know each other's. So show us yours." Killua said.
Ashe shrugged and pulled out her badge which read '34'.
"Who's that?" Gon asked.
"The guy with the green hair and the sword. I think his name was Ryu." Ashe said smiling.
"You can remember that but not your own age?" Killua asked Incredulously.
Ashe laughed sheepishly scratching her cheek.
"Anywaaaay. What's your badge numbers?"
They smiled and showed her. Ashe flinched when she saw Gon's number.
"Gon…" she trailed off.
"It's fine. I'll get his badge no matter what!" he said, determination and fear flickering through his eyes.
"Good luck." Ashe said and turned to Killua.
"So you have one of the Amori brothers."
"Good to know. This should be fun. But I bet it's gonna be boring like of this has been." Killua said smirking then sighing.
Before Ashe could say anything she was cut off by the announcement that they had arrived.
"Welcome to Zevil Island. You will leave in the order you completed the tower. There will be two minute intervals between each person. Number 1 you may go." said the attendant.
It was eventually Ashe's turn. She looked at her friend's smiling.
"See you there!" she said running off the boat with Cerberus following close behind.
"Let's do this Cerberus!"
I am so sorry for not updating in such a long time. I had writer's block and school is hell so I don't have much time for writing anymore but I haven't given up on this story and never will. Thank you so much for reading! Comments are appreciated.
