Chapter 9: Bewilderment
Inside, the mansion is completely different than what Gon envisioned. Instead of marble floors, polished high walls, a magestic staircase twisting upwards, and glittering chandeliers; the house looks disappointing, to say the least. The floorboards groan under every step. The stench of mould and rot hangs in the air. The winding staircase seems like it could crumble at any moment. Cobwebs scattered around replace the lavish chandeliers. Dim light from an unknown source illuminates the area.
As Gon runs his hand on the handle of the staircase, he realises that the house might even be abandoned, the jewelled pin moved to another location. Relief nearly crosses his face, except he doesn't know whether another mission would be more brutal than this one.
Gon sneezes as they reach the top corridor. He dares to glance at his companions, who both have completely unreadable expressions stuck to their faces.
A moan from the door as the swordsman kicks it open, revealing a dusty old bedroom, with a bed and an empty bookshelf in one corner, and a window and closet in another.
The two enter and Gon follows. They seem to know exactly where they want to go. Did they research that deeply? He thought that they might have to do at least some amount of searching first.
Nobunaga goes straight to the closet and pulls it open. An excited grin spreads across his face as he turns to face Gon. "So, kiddo. Your thoughts?"
But what's there left to do? The closet is empty.
"Gon and Killua are still alive." Kurapika mumbles into the blanket.
It's the middle of the night, hours after Hisoka's message, but even then his brain refuses to catch up. The relief is overwhelming, but hope is a drug-- a drug Kurapika no longer wants to get addicted to.
Leorio scrolls down and down and down and down. Reading article after article. There is not much information up online about the Spiders to begin with and he's pretty sure he has acquired it all. The websites only supply the same information now. It has gotten so repetitive, he's sure he has memorised it all. It has gotten so repetitive, he's sure he has memorised it all.
Even then, his hope never dies. He let his friends down last time. In the hunter exam too, he was only a burden. But this time... he won't give up.
"Mitsuki... I'm sorry... I'll try my best to be helpful from now on..." Leorio promises himself as he sips down on another cup of coffee.
Killua shifts to the side, an arm draped over his head. He was able to clean himself earlier and get fresh clothes, but the entire room still has the metallic stench of blood hanging around in the stale air. The rugged bare walls and floor with the only small light illuminating them being from cracks and crevices littered around. It all reminds him of places he doesn't want to go back to...
"Gon." Three simple letters are all keeping him from breaking down. If he was back in the house, Illumi would have already made him forget about Gon. But he still has him... Gon.
The sound of rushing water from the sink fills the room. Natsumi takes a deep breathe as she checks herself out in the mirror. Despite everything, there is still no sign. Still none... despite everything... why...
Seconds later, broken shards of glass are scattered around her, some stuck to her fists, drawing blood to mix into the already large pool below.
Despite everything, despite slaughtering everyone in the entire apartment building-- top to bottom-- there's still no sign.
"WHY?!"
"What do you mea--"
~Ack!~
Gon goes crashing into the wall, a firm hand on his back.
Gon starts as soon as the hand is removed. "Nobunaga, why the hell--"
"I'm sure you were wondering why the interior of the house is so different from the outside. Well, use Gyo and you'll get it." He sighs
"Everything is... covered in someone's nen. Huh? Is this entire building someone's nen ability?"
"Not sure. But--"
The surroundings shake and Nobunaga's figure quickly fades and disappears, leaving a stunned Gon behind. Huh?
He's scared now. After all, being in enemy territory gives the enemy the advantage. His head whips around to look for his other companion and he's gone as well. Shit. He has to escape. But how?
His eyes fall on the open window and he dashes towards it. Just as he's about to reach it, it moves to the far left, making him nearly crash into the wall. Great. The window's here to taunt me then.
He decides to try the somehow fixed door next, and surprisingly, the knob turns easily, allowing him to step outside. As soon as he's fully outside, the door melts into the wall and disappears.
Outside, the corridor is completely different. So their ability allows them to fully control everything about the house. There should still be a way out though... after all, the house isn't infinitely big. There's always a weakness in everyone's ability. But even finding one is different than exploiting it. That was something Nobunaga had drilled into his head.
Alright, this ability looks like a manipulator's work. It could be a conjurer's too but they would still need manipulation to control the house. So what now? Since, the range is pretty good and they can do basically anything, there must be conditions involved. Also, because there doesn't seem to be any pattern for the attacks, the house can't be acting on its own... but how would they know where we are? Won't that require a seperate ability? En.
Ok... so they are using En to track our location and a nen ability to control the house. It must require some sort of conditions. Also, since they are using En, it's safe to assume they are nearby. But where? How do I get to them? They can pretty much control everything around here. How do I even defeat them? I need the other two. But how do I even get to them?
Smoke starts coming out of his ears, the more he starts to think. In the end, in true enhancer fasion, be decides to leave it up to fate.
He starts walking, the worn out carpet of the hallway softly crunching under his shoes. He keeps walking. And walking. And walking. Yet nothing changes. He decides to turn around and at least reach the point where he started. The problem however, is that he now has a wall right behind him. I came from there!
Clenching his fists, he turns around, only to find a wall so close that it's touching his nose. Huh? He turns around. There's a wall. He looks to the left. There's a wall. He looks to the right. There's a wall. He looks at the back. There's a wall. He's surrounded!
It's been approximately at least an hour. Laying down on the floor of the prison, Gon is tired. His training with Nobunaga really improved his nen, but it's still not enough to help him break out of it. Despite, his endless barrage of punches, kicks and everything, the only one he managed to hurt was himself. His stomach growls and his throat begs. He's hungry, thirsty and exhausted.
He gazes at the abyss above. The ceiling is so high he can't even see it. Shifting to his side, he starts stretching, trying to lessen the tension of his muscles. His joins pop and his shoulders roll providing him with enough satisfaction to refill his patience.
Standing back up, he now has a new plan in mind. Perhaps the ceiling is the weakness. Perhaps if he jumps high enough, the wall will end. Perhaps beyond the wall, there will be freedom. Even if it's all just perhaps, if he manages to escape, he will definitely not be coming back for the two.
Fresh determination shining in his eyes, he starts gathering nen around him. A second later, he braces himself and jumps as high as possible. He even extends his arm out to its entire length. The floor is too far away to be visible, but the ceiling is still not in sighs. The walls, however, are still there, taunting him for his defeat. A second later, he lands back, huffing more from frustation than exhaustion. Damn it--
~Gah!~
He lurches forward, his vision spinning, making him want to throw up. Falling to his knees, he clutches his stomach, desperate not to give in to the urge.
His head hits firm ground as the spinning stops. Fading blurs of colours dancing in his eyes, he runs his eyes around. He's in a medium sized room, with bookshelves filled to the brim everywhere, and a small desk and chair in a corner. He walks over to the desk. It has various manuscripts laid over it and a pen stand with a few things in it.
Gon walks his hand over one of the soft parchments. It has strange symbols on it, probably the script of another language. It looks interesting enough, so he neatly folds and pockets it.
Now what? He teleported here, that's for sure. Is it possible that the house itself doesn't move, but rather the people? But how does that even begin to work? There must be a trigger for it... When he started walking in the corridor, maybe he kept teleporting to other corridors. But why didn't I notice? Are all of them built in the same way or something?
Perhaps when he reaches the end of a corridor or a room, he gets teleported to another? That would explain how he got stuck in the room earlier. But that would still leave the part of him getting out of it a mystery. Not to mention, how the other two disappeared. Also, are the rooms chosen at random or is there a pattern?
Smoke starts coming out of his ears again. He shakes his head. Stomach growling even louder than before, he decides to fix one problem before jumping onto another. Food and water.
Searching around the room, he finds nothing of use. There are just dusty books and manuscripts everywhere. No food. No water.
His stomach grumbles again and he sighs. Should I take a chance and try to get to another room? What's the worst that could happen anyway? Him not being able to escape from it may count as the worst.
Gon strides over to the door and slowly opens it, feeling anticipation coursing through his veins due to the unknown. He still only has a rough idea of how their ability works. He knows that the effects include nausea but could there be something else too.
I'm thinking too much. That's Killua's job, not mine. Which is exactly why I need to get out of here to get back to him!
Bracing himself, he steps outside and... nothing. There's another room... or is it? The same bookshelves, the same cluttered desk, and chair in a corner. He blinks and turns around, only to find the door... gone. There's another one at another end of the room though, exactly the same as the previous room. He runs towards it and opens the door, only to find darkness. He dares to step into it, one hand still on the door. Only when he releases his hand from the doorknob, does the room come back in place-- the same as before. He turns around and... of course, the door is gone.
He blinks. He's stuck in a loop. Just when he thought he finally figured some of it out...
It's like being back in that cramped space earlier, only the space now is bigger. How exactly did he get out of it though? He jumped, right? But... how did it changed his position? He was technically still in the same room...
Before more smoke starts coming out of his ears, Gon decides to give it a try anyway. Gathering aura in his feet, he jumps, albeit not as high as before. An easy landing later, the nausea begins. Gon has to put a hand over his mouth to not throw up, but eventually the blurs disappear, and he lands on solid ground.
Something cold and hard digs into his spine, shoving him closer into the ground. Suppressing a yelp, he dares to glance back.
A lady with a pistol pointed towards him. Purple hair. Three piercings on each cheek. A school uniform. Right eye covered with an eye patch. A crazy look in her left one.
A wide smile. "Boy~" A purring voice. "Have you ever played Russian Roulette?"
[A/N: I did some research on gambling and stuff for a school project and I couldn't help but add something like that here. I initially planned to finish his mission in this chapter but got a bit carried away lol. Sorry!
Neodigital: I hope I was able to meet your expectations. More action in the next chapter!
ReinRain37: Thank you soo much!! I still don't think it can surpass your Mato vs Phinks fight but thanks again! It's great to hear it from the one I got inspired by to write it in the first place.
Lilphantomtroupelady: Aw thank you! Altho I can never consider mine to be the best... just curious-- what came up?
Random Guest: I don't know about good, but I've only found two stories so far about Gon joining the troupe-- the first one being ReinRain37's (in progress) and the second one is abandoned with only a few chapters. That's the reason I wanted to have a take on it! Also, thank you! ]