Chapter 10: Gunshot
"Russian Roulette?" Gon blinks. He has heard about the game from Killua, who immensely enjoyed it-- partly because of the gamble itself and the fact that he could easily protect himself from the bullets with nen.
With the bloodlust the lady is displaying right now, Gon doubts she will hesitate to reinforce the bullets with nen.
"Yes~" She grabs his hair, pulling his head back. "Such an innocent face~ Do you even know how to play dear?"
"I do."
"Good~ Good~" She slides her hand down to his neck, slowly tightening her grip until Gon starts to flinch. "Will you play with me dear? Will you do as I say?"
Tears form at the corner of his eyes as he tries to fight off her grip. But to no avail, it simply gets tighter and tighter, until...
"Fine... I'll do it... Just let me-- Ack!"
The lady lets go of her grip, but the grip doesn't let go of him. The marks left on his neck grow bright red, before slowly fading away.
"Let's go, boy."
The mark on his neck brightens again, sending burning sensations down his spine. After much struggle, he manages to stand up and stagger after her.
Gracefully, she leads him to the only lighted part of the room-- a polished wooden circular table with upside-down cards neatly placed all around the border.
She throws a gun at him and six bullets. "You can choose to fill as many of them as you would like, okay?"
Gon frowns. "Why?"
A thumb slides on his cheek, slowly making its way down to his neck. "Because I said so, sweetheart~"
Just as Gon slaps her hand away, the burning sensation in his neck returns. A snap of fingers and it leaves just as abruptly as it came. "Obey~"
Obey? He's tired of obeying. First the Spiders and now her. What's up with these people?!
"Once you're done, throw the guns down the hole in the middle of the table, alright?"
Gon nods. With shaking hands, he slides the gun across the table and into the hole. It lands on top of the other gun with a metallic clunk.
"Good boy~ Now, allow me to explain the rules to you. There are twenty cards placed upside down all around the table, each with a number between one and ten on it. There will be three rounds. In each round, we will take one card from the table. If the card we take faces our side, the number will be added to our score; if the card faces the other way, the number will be subtracted from our score. Simple, enough?"
"And the guns?"
"That's simple too. Whoever gathers the most points gets to shoot at the other one."
"How many times will the winner get to shoot?"
"That will be decided by the roll of a dice~"
Gon clenches his fists. "A gamble within a gamble within a gamble. You're crazy. What makes you think I'll play along with this stupid game? The cards were set beforehand.The dice can be partial. How do I even know you're not cheating?"
"You answered the second question yourself-- it's because I'm crazy~ Cheating. Ruins. Gambling~"
The smile on her lips. The look in her eyes... Hisoka... she definitely won't cheat...
"And about the first question." A snap of her fingers and Gon was on his knees, clutching his neck. "Do you understand now~"
"Yeah..." His chest tightens as he stands up again. He wants to be anywhere but here. He doesn't want to be part of a crazy game. He wants to be with... Killua!
Maybe... if he performs well in his mission, he'll get to see him again.
"Let's play."
The lady chuckles. "I like that look in your eye. Let's have some fun, shall we?"
"Kurapika, teach me nen. I'm willing to beg you for it. I'm tired of being so damn useless."
"Leorio?" Kurapika's surprised voice echoes throughout their small rented apartment. Determination shining in his companion's eyes, he realises that there's no way out. He shouldn't be surprised about it in the first place.
"Very well." Kurapika sighs and stands up, putting his book on the bedside table.
"Food."
Killua grunts and sits up. The box is set on the floor and only a blur of pink is seen leaving.
He frowns. Opening the box, he finds a cold cheese pizza within. Still a lot better than what Illumi used to give me...
"Four points added." The lady declares, a gleam dancing in her eyes.
Grimacing, Gon scans the upside-down cards in front of him. There are no differences in the simple flower pattern-- nothing to suggest foul play. Is she really not cheating? Or did she memorise the order of cards when she placed them?
Trusting his instincts, he turns the card closest to him. Facing him, bold and black, is a simple--
"One point added." Gon scrunches his nose. Better than a loss I guess...
"Next round then~" She says. "You can go first."
Frowning, he turns a random card. Facing away from him, bold and black, is a ten.
"Ten points subtracted."
"Ah~ Such bad luck." She smirks. "My turn now... Hmm... let's see~" She flips a card up and the smirk widens. "Two points added."
His hand is sweaty. His stomach feels heavy. Colours dance around in his eyes. Blurry cards litter his vision. His hand reaches out to grab the side of the table. A shaky breath and his hand reaches out again. It lands on top of a card, but... shouldn't he think more about it?
Should he? Technically it doesn't really matter. It's like picking heads or tails. There's an equal chance of both. There are no clues around whatsoever. Thinking too much about it... has it ever worked out for him?
He's about to flip the card when--
A pale hand lands on top of his tan one and gently picking it up, puts it aside. "It's my turn now boy~"
Gon gulps. "Sorry."
She circles around to the other side of the table. "Such anticipation... beautiful~ Well now..." A soft flip of the card closest to her and her face brightens. "Seven points... subtracted."
The unnerving smile on her makes Gon suck in a deep breathe. "Why are you happy?"
"I thought I made it clear earlier... I gamble for. the. sake. of. gambling." She answers plainly.
"Why?"
"It's fun and thrilling. Everyone gambles all the time-- should I say greet them or not, should I take this path or that-- this is simply a more obvious way of doing it. I don't see any other difference." A smile fastened to her face and an indifferent shrug.
What the hell is wrong with these people?!
"Do you have any common sense or not?! What you do... it isn't normal. You're risking others lives for no reason!"
"Didn't you hear what I just said?" She scowls, making Gon take back a step. "I do it for the thrills and everyone risks their lives all the time, it's just not as obvious."
"Well I am not having any fun or getting any thrills. I don't enjoy it in the least. Why the hell do I still have to play this stupid game with you?! Shouldn't both parties show consent? You can't just--"
A tight hand to his mouth. "Of course I can. I. Am. Free." The previous smile returns to her face as she slips the hand off.
"You're chaining others for your own freedom! That's-- Argh--"
The burning sensations return, worse than before-- to the point that he's sure it will do actual physical damage this time. Supporting himself from the table he tries his best to ignore the approaching figure.
"I'm not the only one doing that. Everyone-- every single person from the day they are born to the day they die-- chains others for their own selfish reasons. And yes, that includes you. Aren't you denying my fun in trying to escape?"
The heat runs to the brain, hindering his ability to think. His vision shakes and blurs, making his stomach twist and turn in his chest. He tries to activate his nen, but to no avail. His body screams submission but his mind remains stubborn. His knees drop to the floor, his head resting on the side of the table.
Damn it... it's not just in my neck anymore, but my whole body. How am I even supposed to deal with it. Oww...
The woman's train of throught and logic is maddening, but the pain is worse-- crawling into every inch of his body, he's sure he'll soon be too dead to help Killua escape. Pride or Life dangles in front of him. He reaches out, only for both to get farther away. Is this his fate? Only time knows.
Sighing, he resigns to it. "I'll play with you."
The pain instantly vanishes, leaving him panting on the now cold floor. He's definitely having an ice shower once he goes back. But to do that...
"Your turn now boy. The scores are negative nine for you and negative one for me. Let's see how the next card changes our fates."
Gon gets to his feet, his head feeling heavy again. As usual, he grabs the card closest to him. Turning it, however, is harder than picking. Should he? Or should he not? The possibilities dance in his mind, making his head hurt even more. What would Killua do?
Smiling, Gon turns the card. Facing him, bold and black is an-- "Eight. Eight points added."
Gon sighs. At the very least, it leaves the game in a tie.
The lady starts clapping happily, and only stops when she reaches Gon. "Good job! Nice nice! Now we can have another gamble!"
The relief on Gon's face vanishes, leaving it a bland blue.
"Let's flip a coin to decide who will shoot first!" She declares. Before he can answer, a coin is up in the air.
"Heads." He mumbles.
"Tails then."
The coin lands. Turning it over she sighs. "Bad luck boy. It's tails~"
"A gamble within a gamble within a gamble within a gamble within a gamble." She happily hums as she rolls the dice. "A three. Yay!"
Gon can feel his life force draining out of him with every passing second. He's gonna die. That's it. She's going to shoot him in the head and blow his brains out. He shakes his head to remove the graphic images flashing in his brain. Does it matter? Of course not. Killua will be dying anyway. They will definitely kill him once he kicks the bucket himself.
Cold metal presses against his forehead and he doesn't even bother to flinch. A click sound and it moves to his chest, right above his heart. Another click sound and it moves to his left shoulder and down his elbow, stopping a few inches above his wrist.
A deafening sound is all that rings in his ears.
[A/N: Am I stretching this out too much? I really hope not.
Lilphantomtroupelady: Thank you. I'm not great at writing physical fight scenes so I decided on this. I have been trying to improve though so I'll definitely be adding some in this fic.
Neodigital: Is ending chapters in a cliffhanger a bad habit of mine... I really hope it's not annoying. I keep hitting the word count and exceeding it is not something I like to do since it's a pain to edit. I hope you don't mind them!]