A/N: This is a couple of days late! Sorry about that. My window regulator on my car broke the other day. Along with my headlight. And my car also needed an oil change. Yeah, I've been a little busy haha. Anyways, thank you for all the continued support! I'm glad to know that you all like it so far! Also, I'm not kink shaming in this chapter, but this is more so Kaila's opinion on things!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Chapter 5: Tower of Terror

I stared down at the tiles in front of me. "And…We're just supposed to reach the bottom of this tower?" I pressed, looking at Pokkle, who was standing next to me. He also stared down at the tiles with thought. "No, seriously, are we even meant to survive this exam?" I asked almost in disbelief as my hand went to my forehead. "Because it seems like this is just an undercover suicide cult…" I walked over to the side of the tower.

Looking down, I could see the fucking clouds that were beside us. We were that high up that the clouds were saying hello – and I would never imagine I would be this high up in my life. Who even builds a structure like this? How the hell can we even get down from here? Safely? Without breaking our entire bodies?

I nodded my head slowly while pursing my lips in thought. Taking the quiver from my back and placing it in front of me, I silently began to go through all the arrows in my arsenal. I looked at the different colored feathers on the arrows with a scrutinizing glance.

Pokkle walked over to me with a raised eyebrow. "What are…What are you doing?"

"Where is the…" I kept taking out arrows and inspecting them. I could see various symbols written on the feathers. I knew that they weren't what I was looking for. Leave it to my shit head of a brother to not pack something useful. "Where is the god damn parachute arrow?"

"The what?" Pokkle questioned back, confused.

I took all my arrows and placed them back into the quiver carelessly that was attached to my back. "Let me get this straight…You have a tranquilizer arrow but not a parachute arrow?"

"Why would I need a parachute arrow?" Pokkle's innocent confusion on his face was starting to piss me off. He didn't understand the hopeless situation that we were in, did he? I gripped his shirt tightly and hauled him towards me. "Ah! K-Kai!" He screamed out. His hands went down to where my fingers were. I would have ripped his shirt if my own self-control didn't hold me back.

"No!" I yelled, borderline losing it. This exam was going to kill me. "Why the hell would you need a tranquilizer arrow? Why not a parachute arrow? A parachute arrow never killed anyone!" I let go of him and wanted to scream in frustration at the top of my lungs but held it in. Instead, I glared at my brother. He was looking at me with slight irritation as he smoothed out the top of his shirt. "Do you see…?" I motioned to the high tower. "Do you see why you would need a parachute arrow?" My voice was low and grim.

He was still looking at me in confusion. His next word came out slowly and unsurely. "No…?"

I was seeing red at this point – that idiot! The stupid idiot! He was trying me – everyone in this god damn place was trying me. If it wasn't one thing, then it was another! I was getting tired of being the only person in the room to have some common sense.

I took a step towards my brother. My fingers were curled – I was going to strangle my brother until he saw reason. His brain needed to be rebooted. "I swear to fucking God, I'm gunna-!" I was interrupted when Leorio spotted us in the crowd.

He waved over towards us. I smiled, dropping all my rage at seeing his face. The face that somehow took away all that was wrong in my life. He made me want to jump into his arms and just let him hold me. Forever. Maybe it was the daddy issues that I knew I had deep inside, or maybe it was something else that caused me to be attracted to him.

"Oh, Leorio!" I called over to him. He looked over at me with a smile.

"Kaila!" He greeted. He was with his small group of friends. I wasn't even sure why he was friends with twelve year old walking cesspools of bacteria, but at least he was good with kids. An even better attribute to his character.

"Hey, do you happen to know how to-?" I began to walk towards the man when my foot fell through a tile. My eyes widened at the falling sensation, which caused me to plummet downwards.

I had most of my weight placed on that foot, and it sent me down quickly. The tile flipped over just as I tried to reach my hands up to grab the sides. I was going at too fast of a pace to actually grab onto something – not to mention the walls didn't have any grip.

Darkness enveloped me as I heard Leorio's and Pokkle's muffled cries as they shouted my name. I continued to fall, and I tried grasping at the walls for something to hold onto. It was the same smooth stone. Sweat was pouring down my face as I continued to fall for a few more seconds before hitting the ground hard.

I heard something pop as I landed on my side. A surge of pain went through me, and tears leaked from my eyes unwillingly. "Ah…Ouch…" My hand went to my shoulder, and I could feel that the pain was coming from the joint. Letting out a shuddering breath, I looked up into the darkness to see the vertical shaft that I had fallen from.

That was a long fall – that was a long fall for no fucking reason, and I was pretty sure that I broke something.

Remind me again how this exam could be legal?

Getting to my feet, I looked around the room to see a figure leaning against the wall. "Did you fall down here, too?" I asked, walking towards them. I held my arm sharply. The joint was screaming out with pain with each step that I took. As I got closer, the light identified the body, and I stopped walking, now paralyzed with fear. Hisoka was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed patiently.

"No…No!" I whispered, stumbling backwards to the vertical shaft instantly. "Pok! Pok, help!" I yelled up at the darkness, but a cold hand touched my shoulder.

It caused my breath to hitch in my throat.

"This is popped out of socket," Hisoka purred down at me. His breath touched my ear. I didn't want him this close to me – never this close to me. Plus, I also didn't want his vile, murderous hand anywhere near my body. It sent shivers down my spine.

"Ah!-No!-Don't touch it!" I yelled quickly, trying to take a step away from him, but he quickly pushed the joint in. I let out a scream of pain and fell to my knees. "Don't…Touch me…!" I panted, not wanting to look at him. This was not turning out to be great. Then again, nothing in my life was great. I should have been used to the disappointment by now.

Kaila doesn't deserve good things.

He let out a hum, clearly not bothered by the pain that he inflicted. "But I fixed you," I stared at the ground, doing my best to contain my tears that were still leaking from my eyes. He said it too objectively – as though his little toy was broken. I held in the urge to growl at him. "Isn't it better now?"

I glared, looking up at him. "I didn't ask you to." He smiled, his lips curling upwards. Great. He found some sort of enjoyment out of all of this. "I'm not doing this phase with you. I'm not going to do it." I took out a couple of my arrows. I wondered if I could jam them into the smooth walls, but I doubt that would work. I doubt I could just build a makeshift ladder and get myself out of here.

"Should I carry you again, then?"

My face paled. "No," I quickly got up to my feet. I placed some of my arrows away, but held one tightly in my hand. I didn't trust Hisoka. I trusted him as far as I could throw him – and there was no way that I could throw him. "Just…" I breathed out, trying to gain some space between myself and the clown. "Just stay six feet away from me." I took a step, but he was immediately at my side. I could feel his breath on my neck he was that close. I let out a mutter. "That's not six feet."

"I'm not good at math," Hisoka pouted, and I ran a few steps to see him looking at me with amusement. I turned to face him, clenching the arrow in my hands tightly.

"I fucking mean it, Hisoka. Stay the hell away from me…!" I warned, even raising the arrow up to show him I had a weapon.

I saw the way he regarded the weapon and then looked at me. A tight smile was on his face as he proceeded to walk past me. "Of course," he said off handedly. He didn't take me seriously. After what I saw in the forest, I doubt that I would ever be able to take him in a fight. I glared at him, waiting on him to suddenly charge and grab me. "I want you to feel safe." He walked over to the end of the room and I narrowed my eyes at his sudden attitude change.

Usually whenever I saw him he was trying to mess with me.

I didn't trust this for a second.

I followed him and stood a small distance away as he touched the panel of the room. It caused it to light up. I stared at the sudden light and was almost blinded by it. Letting out a hiss, I raised a hand up to help obscure some of the bright intensity.

A deep voice rang out. I didn't recognize it. "You are tasked with making it through these challenges together," I blinked my eyes, but I was also keeping Hisoka within my line of sight. The creep needed to be watched – he managed to sneak up on me too many times. "Should one of you fail then you both fail. You have seventy two hours to make it to the bottom of the tower."

"Hm. This sounds promising," Hioska muttered out, and then eyed me with his yellow orbs. I flinched at the unwanted attention before narrowing my eyes at him. The door slowly opened up to reveal a corridor of darkness. The light faded to black on the panel. "Ladies first," he waved his hand in front of him.

"Oh…" I looked at the unknown corridor and then over at Hisoka with suspicion. "Oh, hell no. I'm not going first," I took a step away and waved towards him. "So you can kill me when I can't see? Stab me in the back?" I crossed my arms. He was staring at me, an endearing smirk on his face. "Or did you just want to look at my ass like a fucking sick freak?"

Hisoka's eyes then glanced to the corridor. He walked forward and I silently followed after him. I was keeping a good distance away from him. My eyes narrowed through the darkness, and soon I couldn't see his red hair anymore. Rolling my eyes, my hand went to the smooth wall as it lingered on it. Pursing my lips in thought, I looked around the darkness until I bumped into his back.

"Ah…shit…!" I whispered, my nose colliding with him.

I placed a hand up to my nose. "The path diverges ahead…" He announced. I rubbed my nose as I glared at him. I doubt he could see my anger directed towards him.

Did the brick wall have to suddenly stop out of nowhere?

Asshole.

"So?" I sassily spat out. "Pick a path. I don't care…"

He turned around to look at me. His yellow orbs were narrowed in interest. "We have to decide together. It was part of the instructions, after all." I stared at him for a minute and then waved my hands out towards him.

"I don't. Care," I said slowly, looking at him again. I clenched my hands tightly as I lowered my arms back to my sides. "We're wasting time as it is."

"Hmm," Hisoka hummed out. He took one last look at me and then turned to the front. "Then I suppose we can go left." We kept walking until the path went into two directions. I looked at both of them to see darkness in both of the corridors. It was hard to tell which direction we were meant to go in – or if this was another weird and twisted test. "This way," he stopped walking, seeing that I was gawking between the two directions. "You didn't care which way we went, correct?"

I slumped my shoulders. "That's what I said…" I let out a small breath. "You know, if we both fail, then I win!" I spoke with a fake cheerful voice. I even smiled tensely over at him. He stared at me. "I've been wanting you to fail since you decided to target me at the beginning. Besides, I don't even want to be a Hunter, so it's really not my problem if we don't pass this round." I crossed my arms and shrugged. "I know that you're a murderous creep, but I doubt that even you would kill my brother if my failing was your fault."

Hisoka stared at me for a few seconds and then quickly smirked. "I will still follow through with my promise…" He stalked over to me, causing me to back away from him. I took a couple of steps until my back hit a wall. I refused to swallow nervously in front of him, and instead stared somewhat fearlessly into his eyes. My fingers were twitching uncontrollably as they found their way on the wall. "If you fail because you refuse to try, then that's in no way my fault…You see?" His smirk vanished as he stared into my face.

I hated when he stared at me like that. His eyes zeroed in on me, and it caused me to be uncomfortable. "Y-Yeah…" I walked sideways along the wall to walk in front of him. "Yeah, I see," I waved him off lazily and tried to pretend like he didn't terrify the shit out of me. "You don't have to be so serious."

"I didn't want the lesson to be missed," Hisoka commented lightly. There was a small smile on his lips, which caused me to clench my hands tightly.

I glared at the ground. "Whatever…" I raised my head as we walked through the corridor. It was still dark. Nothing but darkness and not even Hisoka's footsteps could be heard behind me. I stopped walking after a while. "H…Hisoka…?" I called out, turning my head around. I didn't see him. I couldn't hear him, and it had been a couple of minutes.

"Did you get separated from your teammate, little kitten?" Asked a gruff voice from behind me. I turned around and armed myself with my bow and arrow as I aimed it at the darkness. Straining my eyes, I couldn't see even one step in front of me. The voice chuckled. "That's not good. The kitten is lost…I should scoop her up and keep her for myself."

"Keep calling me kitten and see what fucking happens you sick fuck…" I threatened.

There was a loud sound of clicking and then the hallway that I was in was lit up by flames on the wall. I covered my eyes with my hand at seeing the sudden light. It was dull, but after what seemed like hours venturing through dark passageways, I wasn't accustomed to the light.

Lowering my hand, I spotted a muscular man in front of me. Narrowing my eyes, I could see that he was chained by his wrists. His shirt was torn where the arm sleeves should have been. The guy looked like he downed eighteen or twenty protein shakes a day and had a regular diet of nothing but meat. A sack was on the top of his head. "Like what you see, kitten?"

I couldn't stop my hand as the arrow was sent towards the man. He barely dodged out of the way, which caused the sack that was on the top of his head to fall off. He had a bald head along with blue piercing eyes. Some weird tattoos were on the top of his head. He wasn't attractive to me – he was a little gross to look at, and I needed to clean my eyes with bleach to get rid of the image.

Looking at the arrow that had pierced the wall, I realized that I had unconsciously fired at him. "Don't call me that…" I trailed darkly, taking another arrow and placing it on my bow.

"You're one of the more beautiful girls I've seen in my life," he responded, walking over towards me.

A shiver went down my spine. "Ew," I trailed out, taking a few retreating steps backwards. "I'm sorry, but can we maybe put the sack back on your head?" I quipped back. He stopped walking and stared at me. My next words were blunt and heartless, but he was a stranger that I wanted nothing to do with. "You're nasty, dude…"

He smirked – he was missing a few teeth. I cringed at that, looking at the man with even more disgust. "You know what I was sent to jail for?"

"I don't know you – how the hell would I know that?" I looked past him into the darkness of the corridor. I wish that Hisoka would spontaneously appear. At least the clown had a full set of teeth and wasn't bad to look at. His clothing preference definitely was – but the man at least kept himself clean.

"Kitten…" He purred, taking a step towards me. I took a retreating step back. "You keep talking like that and I'll have to silence you." He winked at me. That was the final straw as bile came from the back of my throat. I walked over to the other side of the corridor, placing my hand against its smooth walls, and vomited violently.

There was silence between the two of us. I raised my head and walked back to the middle of the corridor. "Can you stop saying such nasty shit?" I shivered. I pulled the string back and placed the arrow on the bow that I was holding. "Did you get sent to jail for being gross?"

He chuckled. "No, I was sent to jail for kidnapping women and keeping them as my pets. I trained them and taught them to obey me."

"Ugh…" I shook my head. "That would explain the kitten shit…" I aimed the arrow at him. "Okay, I'm going to kill you, now."

"Not so fast, kitten…" The man spoke, walking closer to me. I narrowed my eyes as I retreated into the darkness of the corridor.

This man had lost it completely if he thought that I would even let him get close to me. "No, I'm going to kill you."

"This is a challenge. I am the challenger. You have to do what I say, kitten…" He snapped his fingers. Metal bars appeared behind me just as I was about to take another step back. I let out a small surprised gasp as I turned my head.

It looks like I couldn't back away from him anymore.

"Since you were unfortunately separated from your teammate…this will make the challenge far easier." I snapped my head over towards the man. "If I manage to stop you then I will get eighty years off my sentence."

"This is some fucked up prison?" I asked with my eyebrows raised. He smirked and stopped in front of me. I noticed that his hands were still chained together. He couldn't even grab me. I might be able to win this challenge that he was issuing. "Right…" I said, looking him in the face. "What's the challenge?"

I watched as he dug into his pants and pulled out a cat collar. I blanched and I felt like I was going to throw up again. "If I can get this on your neck then I'll win," he chuckled at seeing my face. I felt like it had paled from rising fear and disgust. "I'll have thirty minutes to do so. If you win, then you can continue on and find your teammate. Also, no weapons allowed. We'll be using strictly our hands."

"How…" I was almost at a loss for words. I cleared my throat, which only made him smirk. "How would you even…" My mind was blank. I never had something like this happen to me before. I swallowed nervously. "Your hands…" I pointed over to him.

The shackles over his wrists fell to the ground, as did my heart. I eyed them for a few seconds and then slowly my eyes went up to the man's face. I could see the glee and lust in his blue eyes. I took a step back and dropped my bow on the ground. "Not a problem. Then…kitten…" He raised the collar up in the air. I stared at it with panic and terror. "Time to be tamed."

I dodged out of the way as he lunged towards me. He was chuckling and whistling while I was holding back my tears. I started to run down the corridor but he yanked me back by my hair. I was sent into his muscular chest. Screaming, I flung out my arms and tried to kick him in the manhood as best as I could. "Let go of me, you sick freak!"

"Now, kitten, is that any way to speak to your master?" He chuckled into my ear. I reared my head back and hit him in the nose. He let out a yell as his hands went up to his face to nurse his hopefully broken nose. I was breathing heavily as I kicked him in the manhood to make sure he was down.

"H-Hisoka!" I yelled around in the darkness. The fire that was on the walls hadn't reached all the way down the corridor. "Hisoka!" I called into the darkness again. Sweat was covering me from head to toe, and I couldn't stop trembling.

There were footsteps behind me, and I felt frozen. Turning my body, I saw the man in front of me with a snide smile on his face. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty…" He mocked. I knew I didn't have a chance against him. I knew that I was going to lose if I took him in hand-to-hand combat.

"S-Stay away from me…" I mumbled out. I hated that I stuttered. I couldn't stop my trembling hands. I felt the need to throw up again from the stress and fear. He took a step towards me and tears fell down my face. "Please…stay away from...me…" I couldn't get the words out. I had never begged before in my life.

I was scared when I encountered Hisoka in the forest. But, at least I knew that Leorio and Kurapika were nearby. I wasn't completely alone. They were strangers, but Leorio would never leave me to the wolves by myself. I was a good judge of character.

Now…Now I was alone.

No one was coming to save me.

The man was practically drooling as he approached me with the collar raised in his hand. "The warden said I could train you in my cell for a day as reward…" I stared at him. I was frozen. I couldn't move my hand. I couldn't even move my feet to run further into the dark corridor. "You're going to be my fifty fourth kitten…!"

A shudder went through me – I didn't know if that was true, or if he was just trying to scare me by saying my badge number. I knew that I needed to make my last stand – I knew that I had to fight for my life.

Clenching my hands tightly, I charged at him. His eyes widened with surprise. "I'm not going to be your human pet!" I yelled, slugging him hard across the face with my clenched fist. His head went to the side. I didn't stop to look at what I had done before raising my leg to kick him again in his manhood.

As if knowing that's where I was aiming, he blocked it with his hand before throwing me roughly on the ground. My breath was knocked out of me and I felt disoriented. I felt him straddle me, putting almost his entire body weight on my stomach.

"I'm going to take my time with you." He took some of my pink hair that had fallen in front of my body and moved it to the side. I flinched at the unwanted touch and then looked him in the eyes boldly. His coarse fingers found their way on my neck, and I stopped breathing and stilled. "It's unclaimed. Your neck…" He chuckled darkly. "I'm going to claim it. We're going to have a bit of fun later."

He raised the collar and started to lower it down onto my neck. My hands shot out to grab his wrists. "No!" I yelled with fear. "No, let go of me!" I cried. Tears were trailing down my cheeks mercilessly. I wished that someone was here. I wished that I wasn't so alone. I wasn't strong enough – I was never strong. "Let go!"

Pokkle. Leorio. Hisoka…

Someone…Anyone!

I struggled - pushing him away as he was pushing his arms towards me. My elbows started to bend and I couldn't help the muffled sob that escaped my throat. My hands began to heat up. The man looked over at me in confusion, but I was too distressed to think clearly. My fingers clawed themselves into the man's skin as the tears kept trailing down my cheeks. I noticed my fingers becoming hotter and hotter as a dull and faint white fire started to surround them.

I felt something off – something that wanted to rise to the surface. My mind started to become hazy. I could feel as though someone else was trying to take control of my body.

I blinked my eyes, and the fire was gone, but my fingers were still heating up. I couldn't feel the tips of them anymore – they felt numb.

Just as the man was about to wrap the leather collar around my neck, he stopped. His arms went limp. A warm, red substance splashed on my face. The collar dropped to the ground and the muscular man slid off me to the side. I looked up to find that his neck had been slit. A playing card was embedded into the side of it. I stared ahead of me, my eyes wide, and my brain not understanding what had happened.

"Kaila…we were meant to stay together…" Hisoka's voice came from a few feet away. "I think the six feet guideline isn't working too well."

Hisoka.

Hisoka had saved me…

I slowly stood up in a small daze. Hisoka walked over to me. I noticed that he was injured. He had a deep gash on his chest and he was bleeding. He didn't seem to be bothered by his wounds. "That's a good color on you…" He wiped away some of the red that was on my cheek with his thumb.

His touch was cold.

I looked over at him silently. "Red suits you nicely," he purred out. I grabbed his hand into the both of mine gently, removing it from my face. I stared into his yellow orbs that were looking at me almost the same way that the man had.

"Th…" The words were trapped on my tongue. This exam was breaking me. I didn't even know who I really was anymore. "Thank you." I clenched his hand in mine and then let go. I bent down to pick up my bow that I had discarded earlier to find that the tips of my fingers were black and burned.

I just wanted to see my brother – I just wanted to be with friendly and warm faces.

I wanted to be safe.

To be continued…