Alright guys. Fair warning. Darker things and themes start the kickoff in this chapter. Jasper's memories are pretty gruesome and though I keep them vague, I'm sure most of you will figure out some things right away. I tried to make it rather obvious without explicitly stating anything.

Trigger Warning

-Vague Mentions of Rape/Non-con

-PTSD

He stared at the stone ceiling in shock, sprawled as he was on the ground. He had literally taken two steps towards Greenie and Killua and suddenly he was falling. He'd been so startled that he hadn't even tried to catch himself, instead whacking his head painfully as he landed.

Jasper whimpered softly.

He'd literally been five steps away from them and now they were gone… or he was gone. Whatever. It just meant that he wasn't around them any longer.

No. No. This was fine. It was fine. He just had to get to the bottom because that's where everyone was going to be headed. He'd just… meet them down there.

Still, he allowed himself to wallow on the floor a little while longer. Until the rough scratch of stone caught his attention. Then he sat up quickly (owie… his head…) to watch as someone else tumbled into the room with him. They, unfortunately, landed much more gracefully than he had. He pulled his feet together with both hands and watched the buff man carefully. His hair had been shaved close to his head and his muscles were pretty prominent. His clothes were a plain t-shirt and camouflage printed pants tucked into heavy looking brown ankle boots. And when the man turned around he caught sight of the gritted square jaw, clean shaven face- plus adorning scowl-, and dark greyish eyes.

"A kid? Of course, I get stuck with the kid," the man sighed.

Jasper, already disliking the newcomer because he was an adult, suddenly found himself in a darker mood, his guard slamming up. He'd gotten a little lax with the ease of the morning and he wouldn't be making that mistake again. Here, this man was an enemy.

"Don't suppose you know what to do next, brat?"

He shook his head, unwilling to even talk to this guy. He had looked around when he'd first fallen to make sure nothing was going to hurt him in the room, though he hadn't gotten around to doing a more thorough check just yet because he'd been on the floor. What he had noted was the very big screen in the room with, what looked like, a small pillar underneath it. Now that he was sitting up, he could make out something resting atop it, but… the man was much closer.

Jasper pursed his lips. If that pillar was critical and the man got to it first… But there was nothing he could do at this exact moment because the man was closer to the pillar and also on guard. Jasper could probably take him down… but it would likely cost him. And it would be his own fault too because he'd been sad over getting separated from the strange group of maybe-friends instead of focused on getting through this task.

Before anything else could be said or done, another person fell into the room. This one a woman that let out a pitchy shriek when she hit the floor with a heavy thump. Jasper felt a tiny bit better about his fall now.

The woman whimpered a bit before peeling herself off the floor, her grey hair stuck out of her low bun messily, giving her an over all frumpy appearance combined with her overly large green scratchy looking sweater and swishy brown calf length skirt. She wasn't wearing any good shoes. Instead, a thin pair of sandals that wrapped around her ankles with gold straps were the only protection for her feet. At least his shoes covered his feet even though there was a hole or two in them.

"Alright. Perfect. Three people just like the screen says," the man rumbled, glancing back over to the pillar.

"W-what?" The woman sounded rather nervous and jittery.

The man jerked his head, gesturing to the screen. Jasper allowed himself to look as well since the other two were distracted.

'CHOICE OF THE WAY

RULE OF MAJORITY

For the three candidates

Your way is chosen

By rule of majority'

That meant… that two people outvoted one right? Or something like that.

The adults moved over to the pillar but Jasper stayed where he was, instead choosing to take the time to stand while they were distracted. He checked his pouch, shifting the fabric of his robe enough to stick his hand into the hole he had cut just for this purpose. It was usually pretty well covered by the way the fabric fell and it was easier access than having to remove his robe or undo the front of it. Once he affirmed that everything was still alright (while pulling out his phone at the same time to check it had survived okay) he brought his other hand to pat at the satchel that was sitting on his other hip. He didn't have a hidden hole on this side, so he couldn't stick his hand in to check on the egg container but he could at least make sure that nothing moved that wasn't supposed. Thankfully, it still seemed firm which probably meant unbroken.

Assured that his belongings were okay, he checked over his phone more thoroughly, making sure it still turned on and there were no cracks in the screen.

"Here kid, put this on."

His head snapped up and he snatched the object out of the air (wincing again because having a hurt wrist was extremely inconvenient) to look at it. A… watch of some sort sat innocently in his hand. There was a screen that had some numbers counting down… that he figured was their time limit since it was at 71 hours and 32 minutes. Then there were two other buttons, an X and an O. Besides that there was nothing on it.

He glanced up at the adults. The woman was strapping hers on and the man had already turned back around to look at the screen again.

Jasper slipped it on quietly before returning to his phone and typing a new entry. He'd need to remember that he had to work with the adults for this round since it was longer than just a day. A few seconds later his alarm started chiming again.

He stared at it in muted surprise. Then his shoulders drooped. Whitey was Killua… and Killua and Greenie weren't here. Instead, he was stuck with two adults he didn't trust… but that he had to work with. He was absolutely going to hate this.

"Wonderful! You're the first of the Rule of Majority paths to be ready. Now that everyone is here, listen closely. To advance through the tower you must all vote on a way to go. Majority's choice! If only one or two vote you will be unable to move on. The difficulty is that cooperating is essential!"

"So… we can't pick a choice on someone else's watch?" The woman shifted nervously, glancing up at the crackling speakers on the walls.

"A good question! Only the person wearing the watch may press the button. Otherwise it will be considered invalid," Mystery Examiner exclaimed.

"O-oh. In that case sweetie... Don't worry, we'll take care of you," she said, directing a small smile at him.

The man groaned and rubbed his face. "Why do I have to get stuck with the useless ones?"

It was official. Jasper definitely already hated this.

"Fight well participants!"

The speakers turned off and they all glanced at each other.

"W-well, I suppose if we're working together it's only fair to share our names, right? I'm M-Melissa," the woman chirped, running her fingers over her hair and smoothing some of the wild pieces still sticking out.

"Braham," the man grunted.

Then the two of them were looking at him and, uh, like hell he was going to give them his name. How about instead he gave them fair warning? "Just so you know. I'm probably not going to remember your names. I have a bad memory."

The woman twitched- or flinched? He wasn't sure which- while the man scoffed. He was going to need better nicknames for them. Hm.

"I-I see… That's alright sweetie. What's your name, though?"

He disliked her even more for pushing. Wasn't it obvious that he didn't want to answer because he didn't give his name?

Fine. He could play this game. "I don't remember," he replied bluntly.

Both adults stared at him.

The man moved first, throwing his arms in the air. "Let's just move on!"

"B-But-"

"The kid obviously doesn't like us. Feeling's mutual," he huffed. "But we're on a time limit so- Let's. Go."

The woman wilted, her escaped gray strands falling in her face. Hm. Gray was an okay color. Kinda dull but it would work for his mental name calling purposes. And the guy could be Camo because of… obvious reasons.

"Screen changed," Camo muttered, reading over the letters.

Jasper glanced up to read it. It was a choice of left or right. He pushed X for right not really caring which way they started out. Camo and Gray pushed O.

He frowned for a moment, watching a door appear to their left, stones sliding and shifting to accommodate the newly opened space. He glanced down at his watch and then at the two adults that had already started walking away. He hadn't really cared which way they went… so why did it annoy him that they weren't going the way he picked?

"A-Are you coming sweetie?"

He let out a disgusted sigh and trotted after his two new companions for this adventure. This was going to be some kind of torture if he couldn't figure out a way to distract himself. He'd still pay attention (because letting his guard down was a bad idea) but he needed something to take his mind off having to rely on two adults. Two adults that outvoted him.

Oh! Hey! Maybe he could write down what he was doing in his phone so that way he remembered. He could write it out like an adventure story or something! That way he could look back on it and not have to ask someone else…

Hm. He still hadn't gotten the eggventure story yet.

Argh! Why'd he have to forget about that!? Now he was going to agonize over it until he forgot again!

Leorio glanced at his watch again, feeling the irritation build in the back of his throat. It had already been an hour and a half! How long were they going to have to sit here!?

"The idiot called it an eggventure. Pretty funny actually! Just don't tell him I said that," Killua laughed.

He glanced over at the two boys, Killua messing with his skateboard and sitting cross legged on the floor and Gon standing and swaying in place with a grin on his face. They were discussing Jasper, of course. Apparently Killua had spent quite a bit of time with the boy this morning because they had woken up early. (Early enough to get breakfast and Leorio might be slightly regretting the fact that he had missed it.) Now he was regaling Gon about what had happened since the boy had asked.

The aspiring doctor let out a breath through his nose, letting his head fall back against the rough stone behind him.

He was worried about the kid. Despite Killua confirming he had a better memory today, he couldn't stop himself from over thinking about the child's condition. He'd heard of Retrograde Amnesia only in passing when he'd been generally looking into Amnesia for curiosity's sake. He knew there were a few different types but even raking his memory he couldn't remember anything that sounded close to what Jasper suffered from. Maybe if the kid had continued to go on like yesterday, he could have been happy with that diagnosis… but now? Memory getting better? Unless his brain was healing at an astronomical rate, things shouldn't just work like that.

And then there was the inconsistency with memory. Remembering his family was normal because they were before whatever trauma had happened… but anything beyond that point should have been impossible. Maybe Procedural Memory could be explained depending on what part of the brain was injured, but his feelings of 'good days' and 'bad days'? The kid shouldn't even know what those are. The kid shouldn't even know he has a bad memory for heaven's sake!

Maybe Leorio was thinking about this too hard. Maybe he just needed to wait until he had his license so he could actually go study up on the topic before jumping to conclusions.

It just… it was hard seeing such a bright boy suffering from such a confusing condition. And now he wasn't even here where they could watch him. He was, in fact, one of the first to disappear into the tower- more than likely accidentally- and none of their group had noticed because they were too distracted by the rock climber getting carried away to his doom.

He shifted his head forward, only to drop it back against the rock with a groan. He wanted to stop thinking already dammit!

"Wait! He's trying to learn your name? I want him to know my name too," Gon whined, shifting on his feet enough to catch the older teen's attention again.

"Is Greenie not good enough for you?" Killua laughed, rolling some of the wheels on his skateboard that sat over his knees upside down.

"He seriously calls Gon, Greenie?" Kurapika asked. The Kurta had been quiet for most of the time they'd been down here so him speaking up was enough to make Leorio jump. He glanced at the blonde from his periphery. He was in an upright position only a foot away but was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, and attention stuck on the boys.

"Yea! And he calls me Whitey! Ugh, it's a horrible name! And he calls you Blondie," the kid said pointing at Kurapika. The finger moved, "And you-"

"Mister Drab," Leorio cut in dryly. Yes, he was very well aware of what the kid called him.

Kurapika snorted next to him, while Gon laughed brightly. He rolled his eyes. At least he got some respect with the Mister in his ridiculous name.

Leorio glanced at his watch again automatically. He didn't even realize he'd done it until his brain processed the time and his irritation skyrocketed.

"Already two hours," he growled.

"Would you knock that off!"

Jasper took a step back, his stance shifting into a more ready position. Should he drop his phone and hope it didn't break, or try to keep hold of it? How much of a disadvantage would that put him at?

"S-So loud," Gray whimpered, her hands covering her ears. Jasper shot her a quick glare full of his disdain before turning his attention back to Camo who was huffing and puffing in front of both of them. His phone alarm was still beeping merrily in a reminder to go over Whitey's name (Killua. Killua. Killua!).

"Turn it off!"

"It's helping me remember," he returned bluntly. He wasn't going to lose this bet because Mr. Short Temper thought he could control what Jaser did. Just no. Though he did dismiss the most recent alarm with his thumb while keeping an eye on his 'teammate'.

"H-he's sort of right, sweetie," Gray decided to pitch in now that she wasn't cowering. Again. "I-it's a little annoying."

"And?"

"And that means turn it off before I break your phone," Camo growled, shoulders tensing. "If I have to hear that damn thing one more time, I'm going to shatter it under my foot!"

He shifted a bit at the threat. He refused to give in just because they thought he was a useless kid and they were big bad adults. But, at the same time, he really needed his phone and he, unfortunately, needed Camo. He couldn't risk getting rid of either and messing up his chances to get a Hunter's License. His family was worth more than being stubborn.

He sighed, quite loudly, just to annoy them. "I'll put it on vibrate."

At least the volume was easy to figure, it just being two buttons on the side of the phone.

"Are you going to choose who goes first or not," a rough voice called out from across the large room.

Oh, right. They were supposed to be doing one on one battles or something. They'd been about to pick who was first before the phone alarm went off again. Which then set off Camo and derailed their decision making process. Eh. He'd change the volume in a bit. This was more interesting and important.

Jasper didn't exactly want to go at all. He worked better with surprise attacks, not full on combat like the prisoners across from them seemed keen on. "I'll go last," he finally said quietly. That way he wouldn't have to do anything if these two both won (though he eyed Gray dubiously).

"S-sure, sweetie! We'll take care of t-this," she responded with little cheer. Her face had greyed out and she was shivering, her tongue appearing to wet her lips every now and then. And… there was just this strange feeling that he didn't want to be around her. She felt… darker.

"Fine! I'll be first," Camo growled, obviously still worked up about the phone thing. The man stepped out onto the walkway and made his way over to the large platform in the middle of the room. When he was fully on the platform the walkway retracted so neither he nor Gray could reach it. Not that he'd want to… except maybe if Camo was going to die because then they wouldn't be able to go further down the tower without a third member, right?

Urgh.

Just as he thought, it turned into a battle to the death. He paid rapt attention, making sure to note down in his phone that Camo was a hand to hand fighter, and relied more on muscle than agility. Jasper would probably be able to take him down with patience if he ended up facing him in another portion of the exam.

Unfortunately for Camo, the prisoner was a weapon fighter and carried several knives. The large adult had already taken several hits from the more wily and thin prisoner which was starting to cost him. It was going to be annoying if those injuries hindered them more on their way down!

Still… in the end, Camo won the fight by snagging Mr. Wily- at the cost of a knife carving into his side- and chucking him over the side of the torch-lit platform. The prisoner disappeared with a muted shriek.

Next up was Gray and she hurried over the walkway as it extended for her. Once, she and the newer, much bigger prisoner, were settled on the platform, the walkway detracted. Jasper turned a bit to look over the sluggishly bleeding cuts on Camo.

"Are those going to be a problem?"

"Shut your mouth, brat," he bit back.

Right. He turned back to Gray to focus on her fight instead. Could she even fight? She seemed so timid and mousy that it seemed really unlikely. Underestimating an opponent could get you killed, he knew that.. But she was just… so… ergh.

The prisoner, deciding their standoff was over, threw off the cloak hugging his rather large form. And… wow, did he look like a gross mountain man. He had buggy eyes, bulging muscles with prominent veins, and an awkward stance that left him looking bow-legged.

Poor Gray probably stood very little chance against this guy and it made Jasper rather irritated. If he'd been worried Camo would die and leave him unable to pass this Phase, then Gray had just doubled that.

"A pretty little thing like you," the large man hummed. "Makes me want to have fun instead. What about it, huh? Death or something a little more fun?"

Jasper frowned in confusion. What exactly was this guy getting at? Weren't these all supposed to be battles? They could do other stuff instead? It might be a good thing then for Gray. A different kind of competition would give her a chance.

"You-! Wha-!?"

Gray took several steps back for the single step the man had taken. "I can just kill you right here. Up to you. But it would be such a shame. It's been so long after all."

Another step forward and he was right in Gray's personal space, snatching up her wrist. "O-Okay! Okay," she whimpered. "Second option! I choose the- the s-second option!"

"What a good girl. Let's see how many rounds you can go. After all, I've got all the time in the world to whittle your hours down."

Jasper twitched, a sudden sense of foreboding slithering down his spine. He had the feeling that he wasn't going to like what was going to happen next.

Those large disgusting hands started traveling downwards towards Gray's smaller body and-

Camo stepped in front of him, slipping two hands over his ears, startling him badly enough that his phone dropped to the floor with a clatter. How could he have let the man get so close!? How could he have let his guard down when it should have been at its highest? His own hands came up to start tearing at Camo's but they held fast and-

Screaming.

So much screaming.

Was that- was that Gray?

But no- no- there were more screams-

Pain-

Moaning in pain-

What a good boy.

He couldn't move-

And the hands on his head, in his hair-

Grasping, ripping, pulling!

The noises just kept going and going and going and why wouldn't they stop!? He just wanted them to be quiet. He wanted them to stop screaming. He wanted to stop screamingscreamingscreaming-

Why wouldn't they stop?

He was going to break. He was broken. It all hurthurthurt.

NO!

Nobody listened to the screams but him. No one asked them to stop. No one tried. They never listened.

What a good boy.

He didn't want this.

(He couldn't stop screaming!)

(Would they still want him?)

Make the hands go away! He needed to get them off! Stop! Stop!

He clawed and clawed but they remained firm and relentless.

Then they were gone.

He breathed and breathed and breathed.

Redredred.

"Kid. Just… stay there."

He didn't want to stay. He wanted to leave. He needed to never come back.

"W-What's wrong with him?"

Wrongwrongwrong

Broken.

He needed to leave. Leave before they saw him. Leave before they caught him. It was never enough. But he didn't have to be enough. He needed to leave.

"Think I triggered something. Trauma. Damn. If he doesn't snap out of this we aren't going anywhere."

Going? Leaving? Yes. They needed to leave. He told them over and over they needed to leave.

"Alright kid. We can leave. You can follow us right?"

Follow? But he'd always led… Always, always, always. He knew more. He knew-

Redredred

A cheery beeping sounded from the ground. He blinked away the wash of red, his shaking hands clutching at his aching chest. That-that wasn't right-? That never happened?

Why wasn't he breathing? It hurt.

He sucked in another breath and another and another.

That noise… it was… it was… his alarm? But-

Where did they go? The children? The screams?

He blinked blearily.

"Didn't I tell you to turn that off!"

Camo…

"B-But look! It h-helped! I think…"

Gray…

"Kid? You back with us?"

"B-back," Jasper wheezed questioningly. "I never left."

The two adults glanced at each other before turning back to him. Camo looked the same, but Gray's hair was dyed a splotchy dark reddish brown and there were splatters of it all over her face and sweater. When did that happen…?

He brought his shaking hands away from his face to gaze at his pale palms. What happened? Why did he feel like he was missing time?

"Look kid. We passed this round. Have to move on. Pick up your phone and let's go. And put it on vibrate like you said you would, dammit!"

Still confused and quite dazed, he did as ordered, checking his phone over for cracks and finding none. He couldn't remember anything past Grey walking onto the platform…

When he went to follow after the two adults, his legs quivered beneath him.

Today was supposed to be a good day. What happened?

AN: So... anyone want to take any guesses? Perhaps there's a good reason Jasper can't remember...

Also, another fair warning... this darker tone lasts well into the next few chapters so, to those affected/triggered please be careful. Take care of yourselves.

Q&A: Anonymous (mean/XYZ)- Wow... thank you so much for taking the time to write such a long review! I accept all criticism unless it's baseless hate. But for the sake of you and my readers I would like to clarify something. In the case of Jasper: While his amnesia is out of the norm it is still a type of Retrograde Amnesia, meaning he has had no experience growing up beyond the age of 6yrs old. He is still immature; selfish; and, without having his bad memories (only random gut feelings that don't give him much to go on), is not a logical or introspective character. Yet. He will eventually grow as soon as his memory problem is addressed.

As for everything else that you wrote, I will certainly try to take it under advisement to enrich my readers' experience!

KrixLight-Between Killua and Leorio it would definitely be Killua first. But who says they're the first to figure it out? ;)

Zetto-saan- Thank you so much for your well/birthday wishes! It's is very much appreciated~ Now, those are some very fine questions that shall eventually be addressed but for now I will say that Harry might be in Jasper's head. XD

Shout Out to Shonna C and AlecDev who also left reviews! I appreciate it so much, you have no idea! But you also didn't have questions so- shout out!