He waited and watched, settling low in the bushes. His chosen target (the only target he'd run into in the last five days) had been camping at the stream for- what looked like- a while. It wasn't anything fancy but Jasper could admit that if he hadn't seen the butterflies, he never would have noticed the campsite. There were a few settling around a few blood spots on the tree and it had attracted his initial attention.

He didn't remember anything before yesterday, not uncommon, but he did have several useful little notes. One of which was about the Blood Butterflies. His first day on the island he'd left a note about how he'd had to leave his cloak behind for a while because they were attracted to the blood and exactly how he could find it again. His second day was marked by another Butterfly note mentioning his hands and thighs and telling himself not to scratch too hard and make himself bleed. He'd almost gotten caught apparently. And it explained the scabbing welts on his inner thighs.

The second important note also happened on the second day and that was an extra badge that he'd found. There wasn't any mention of how he found it, but he was now the proud owner of badge number 197, which left him with only two more points to get.

And the last important note was from day four, yesterday. He'd found a small camp tucked in the hollow of a tree right next to a small stream. It had only recently been used and there were still items there (no badges unfortunately) so he'd decided to wait.

Already on day five, Jasper was very much eager to get some more points. There was still time, but he wanted to be done with gathering as quickly as possible. Hiding was much easier than following and stealing, after all.

It was only when the sun was on its way down again that something rustled in the bushes far off to his right. Jasper made no move beyond tilting his head to better hear what was going on. An old man finally stepped out into view, making his way over to the tree. His steps were light and sure and he moved gracefully despite the obvious wound on his temple.

That wasn't a good sign for him. Jasper had made it this far by not underestimating his opponents. It was something that he took advantage of quite happily and therefore something he also needed to watch out for in others. The way this man was moving… was a fair sign that he knew how to move well and possibly fight well. His clothes were somewhat familiar, looking vaguely like something Ma would wear. Except she had shorts and this guy had a weird skirt looking thing with white pants underneath. He wondered if the length hindered movement at all?

The man glanced up, almost directly at Jasper, a small frown on his wrinkled face. For a moment the boy thought he was had but he still refused to move. Inside his head was a litany of 'I'm not here, you can't see me,' variations.

With a barely noticeable hum, the old man turned away, his high silver-haired ponytail swaying with his movements. Jasper did not dare let out a breath of relief, instead settling in for a long night of watching.


Running!

He was running!

After hours and hours of creeping closer, he'd finally lifted a single badge from the inside of the man's weird half robe top while he was asleep. Then there were eyes looking at him and Jasper took off, lamenting the fact he couldn't snatch the second one that was right there.

He was fast. In fact, speed was only one of the few things Jasper had going for him. But this guy was way faster than his age would suggest! Every time he thought he'd lost the guy, he'd appear ahead of Jasper to try to snatch him unawares. Well, he'd almost fallen for it twice. He was better about avoiding that. The only problem now was… he was getting tired, his legs were burning, and his lungs had gone numb (which was sort of a relief but he wasn't sure if it was a good thing).

Ok so… he'd lost not only his own badge (which had been humiliating!) but also the two that he'd collected so far and the only words that the old man had for him were, "Children shouldn't be fighting."

Jasper's eyes narrowed. This meant war, Geezer.


After taking (probably far too long) to collect himself, calming his breathing and slowing his heart rate, he brushed the old man's blood off his lips. Starting slightly as a butterfly landed on his hand, he focused his full attention on it. He watched it crawl on his hand, tiny little legs shifting back and forth over the blood. Slowly, a grin crept over his face as a plan formed in his mind's eye.

The butterflies were actually a very useful distraction.

With his cloak retrieved after a brief respite to rest his legs, he'd carefully carried it- and the butterflies still crawling all over it- back to the clearing. It was hell crawling up a tree without disturbing the insects but mission accomplished! With that done, he waited and watched. The sun was still gone and the Geezer was still on high alert. He only needed a tiny break in that concentration.

It was as the sky was starting to lighten again that his chance finally came. The Geezer had exited his little hollow and was kneeling over the stream. He was still wary but not nearly as much as he should have been. Maybe the man was tired but what did Jasper care? Jasper was also tired but he had determination practically singing in his veins. There was way too much at stake for him to lose here.

A branch cracked upstream and the Geezer's head tilted in that direction, eyes narrowed.

Jasper took his chance. He flung the insect-laden garment down right over the Geezer's head.

It was a kaleidoscope of bristling redredred.

He dropped down into the cloud, focusing on the startled exclamation to find his target, fingers reaching for where he saw him tuck the badges away. The cloak was thrown off much too quickly for his liking but the butterflies weren't done yet. Attracted to the fresh blood from Jasper's bite inflicted wounds, the old guy was practically swarmed. It was perfect.

He snatched the badges, ripping them indelicately from the inside of the old man's weird robe top and booked it. Fingers brushed against the back of his arm, but this time he was more prepared. Jasper took to the trees.


Day six was going strong and he'd only successfully lost the Geezer by jumping in a fast moving river that spat him out right into the ocean via waterfall. Jasper hadn't even been aware he could swim until that moment. But… as he clung to the rocks as much as he could without slipping, he couldn't help the fiercely triumphant grin that settled on his face.

That old Geezer wouldn't soon be forgetting that he might be faster than him in a chase but Jasper was much sneakier. He had the feeling the forest wasn't his normal hunting grounds, but he didn't really care because being sneaky over branches and dead leaves was about the same as being sneaky over glass and trash. No matter his lack of skills in other areas, Jasper would always be proud of his ability to make no noise when he was trying. And his ability to run along tree branches instead of the thick forest floor. Because that was immensely helpful in losing the Geezer as well. The Geezer may be fast but he was also less nimble and much much heavier.

Now… how was he supposed to get back up?

That night Jasper had tucked himself into a tree after making sure his clothes were dry enough that dripping wouldn't give him away. This time he had pinned the badges a little further down inside his pantline so the tops wouldn't be peeking over the edge. He hadn't realized it had been visible at all until the Geezer had pinned him to the ground and taken it from him. The man hadn't left without a few nasty bites (one to the forearm, two to the hand, and one to the shoulder when he'd missed lunging for the throat), for Jasper, even pinned, was not one to stop fighting if he could.

Despite still being upset over the old man's condescension… Jasper also knew he was extremely lucky. With how easily he'd been caught and subdued (nonononono please not again no) he knew that the Geezer was strong. Much much stronger than Jasper. And the only reason he'd gotten away the second time was desperation. He'd been stupid. What if he didn't know how to swim? If he'd died? He'd never get back to his family that way!

He winced, pulling his hand away from his thigh. He'd been scratching without realizing again… He glanced at his palm, staring at the mottled pink bumps that had appeared. He'd removed the bandages some time ago, wondering why they were so itchy, and he'd found this. It looked like a sort of rash and he had no idea where it came from. He might think it was from some sort of poisonous plant that he'd touched without knowing while trying to gather berries… but the same thing was also on his thighs and lower belly. The itch could get so bad Jasper almost felt like those parts of him were burning off.

The only reprieve he'd had (other than momentary distractions) had been the ocean water. Maybe it was the salt? Whatever it was, he hadn't realized the itch had been gone for… for hours, now that he thought about it. Maybe he should go take another dip in the ocean when he wakes up.

Pulling his sleeves lower (he missed his cloak… the sacrifice was needed but highly mourned), he curled into the cradle of branches he'd found and drifted off without even realizing.


"Hey, kid."

Jasper opened his eyes, recognizing the voice. He couldn't see. It was too blurry.

But he knew who it was. His uncle sounded sad. He didn't like it.

"Uncle Gin," he croaked.

"Yeah, kid. How ya feeling?"

Gross. And hot. And itchy. He didn't like it. He couldn't scratch the itchies away because Daddy had put mittens on his hands. Now they were starting to burn. He wanted the itchies to stop.

But he couldn't voice this. His throat hurt. He let out a thin, tired sob.

"Not so good, huh? Yer… Yer Daddy's out tryin' to find some medicine. But I don't think he'll… He'll be back soon, though. Promise."

"Daddy."

There was a sound like a sob, but Uncle Gin never cried. He liked to smile big and wide. Jasper wished he could see that warm grin again.

"Hey. Buddy, do you want to surprise your Daddy?"

Jasper shifted, trying to look at his Uncle Gin but even that tiny movement was exhausting. He gulped in a few reedy breaths before trying to answer. "Su-Surprise?"

"Yeah. Yeah. We could make you all better, right now! You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

All better? He wanted to be better so badly. Ever since he started itching, everyone was sad. He didn't like it. And now… now he couldn't even see them anymore.

He shivered, the chills coming back, making the itchies burn even hotter.

"I wanna…"

"Alright… Alright. It's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt a lot." Uncle Gin's voice was small and quiet, nothing like normal. He didn't want to hurt, but he wanted normal back. "But just think about your family, okay? All of us. You want to be here with us."

"Forever," he whined quietly. He wanted to be with them forever.

"Forever and always, kid. Just think about us and only us, ok?"

Large strong fingers brushed against his forehead, moving the sweaty hair away. A palm settled on his cheek, feeling cool and nice.

Jasper thought he heard Uncle Gin say something else but-

Everything hurt.

Someone was screaming.

And suddenly he could see everything. The room he was in came into sharp focus and Uncle Gin was standing over him, yelling at the doorway.

Why am I awake?

Jasper felt stronger now. The itching was gone. He curled his fingers in the rough, sweat soaked sheets, his lungs heaving for fresh air.

"What have you done-"

"-Going haywire-"

"-too young! How dare-"

Everything was so loud. Inside. Outside. He knew… He knew something was wrong but he wanted to stay with his family. Like Uncle Gin said.

"Grab- Alna-"

"No! No! Baby-"

Mom appeared over him, her eyes wet with tears, hair in disarray. He wanted to say hello. Tell her he was better now. But his mouth didn't move.

Family?

Family. Family. Family. He wanted to stay with them. Forever and always. He wanted to get better for them. See their warm smiles again. Play in the sun.

"Jas- Jas- breathe!"

"What's going-"

"Sorry."

Blonde hair. Blue eyes. A sad frown.

Darkness.

This shouldn't have happened.


Jasper gasped, startling upright. No. No, he didn't want to fade! He wanted to stay with his family!

He twitched when a cool wind burst across his sweat soaked face. His eyes focused and he blinked harshly, staring at the leaves all around him.

That dream… That dream was so familiar. It felt like a memory but…

He rubbed at his hair aggressively before reaching into his pouch to pull out his phone. He clicked the side, frowning when it didn't turn on. Was it dead?

He pulled out the charger next but that also didn't turn on.

He reached up to tug his hood in frustration- except… it wasn't there. In fact, he wasn't even wearing his cloak. What… no. Something had obviously happened. But if he couldn't get on his phone-

He scratched irritably at his palm. Then he stopped and stared at the ugly rash like bumps. The itching was so familiar. Had he been itching so bad he dreamed about it?

Not important. He needed to do a full review of what he had and where he was.

His pouch was fine but the texture felt slightly different. He rubbed at it and came away with something white on his fingertips. Sniffing it gave no clues, but tasting it? Salt. And it was crusted all over his pouch. Now that he was looking, it was on his phone and charger and clothes and extra bag-

When did he get an extra bag?

He stared at the nice looking leather in confusion before pulling it onto his lap. There was a cracked container in the biggest pouch with a bit of water in it. (Tasting it was a mistake. Salt water was just nasty.) A few crushed berries were in the smaller pouch, probably staining it irrevocably. Not that that mattered. What really mattered was that he couldn't eat them because they were also covered in salt and tasted nasty.

Right… extra bag was nice for carrying space but obviously held nothing special (like his missing cloak). Moving back over to his pouch, he ran through his few items and ended up frowning. The wire was still there, but he had no knife, only the sheath. His shoes were fine, as was his shirt even if it was really dirty. His pants on the other hand… were fine except for these weird circular tags that were pinned to the inside.

What in the world had he been doing?

A loud boom went off in the distance and Jasper nearly fell out of the tree in surprise. Quickly following there was an announcement loud enough to make his ears ring. "In a while the fourth phase of the Hunter Exams will come to an end! All participants are welcomed back to the starting point of the forest. The participants must make themselves known within one hour. Failure to arrive at this time will lead to disqualification.

Please pay close attention now participants! Any tags stolen from time onwards will not be counted! Verifications will be made and people who break this rule will be disqualified."

What an information dump. Also, extremely convenient and useful. Jasper was more than likely a participant considering the numbered badges tucked into his pants.

Now… he still had the problem of figuring out where the starting point was.


Kurapika sat against the tree, watching everyone else on the beach. So far their entire group was here, sans Jasper. Gon was frowning down at his fishing rod in his lap, seated cross-legged in the sand. Leorio was shifting through his briefcase, possibly getting ready for the possibility of the smallest child showing up. Kurapika didn't really think that was likely but better prepared than not. Killua had come from the bushes only a little while ago and was leaning against a tree a few feet away, watching just as Kurapika was doing.

The next person to enter the clearing was an old man in formal martial artist clothes and there was a frown on his lips. When he glanced around the beachfront, his frown grew deeper, a worried look settling in the wrinkles on his face. He turned right back around and headed into the forest again.

Kurapika blinked but ultimately ignored the strange scene. The man was probably looking for an ally of his and didn't find him there.

Instead, he turned his attention back to Gon who had been acting very sullen ever since he'd met with him and Leorio in the forest. Honestly, he was just happy (and very very surprised) that Gon was alive. The boy seemed to have other ideas, though. Kurapika had already handled one distraught child on the ship and he wasn't sure if he wanted to handle another one. Jasper, he could sort of understand based on his own past but Gon was like a mystery. His thought processes were so different from the norm that it left Kurapika reeling sometimes.

He glanced back over to Leorio, who was pacing now, muttering under his breath and staring off into the forest. A sigh of exasperation left him. The man had been (rightly) worried the entire time they'd been together for this phase. The older teen had even surprised him with his vehemence in dealing with Tonpa. Leaving him tied up and smeared in berry juice to attract all kinds of insects was inspired and also slightly cruel. Not that Kurapika stopped him. Jasper had not been in a good state (not that he'd ever seen him in good state anyway) when they'd landed on this island. As one of the middle group to pass the last phase, he'd also disappeared into the forest long before any of the rest of their group did. And not once had they seen or heard from him on the island. That wasn't strange considering how large it was, but it was still worrisome.

Kurapika shifted his head back to rest on the bark, staring at the blue cloudless sky. He didn't want to admit he was worried. He didn't want to think about the little boy at all because they were in a competition and he needed to focus. That thought process had led to a loud, ugly argument with Leorio which had sent the both of them off in a huff. They'd reunited hours later, of course, but that didn't mean it hadn't happened.

While he still felt justified in his argument (even if it made him sound like a cold-hearted bastard) he also felt the need to apologize. He hadn't yet. He should. But he didn't want the argument to be rehashed, especially in front of so many people.

"Jasper!"

He tilted his head over to Leorio who had sprinted a few feet into the forest and was now fluttering about a very startled looking child. It took Kurapika a moment to realize that that was, in fact, Jasper. He'd never actually seen the boy without his robe.

He was much more gaunt than Kurapika was comfortable with. The robe had done quite a lot to hide exactly how terrible the boy looked. His black hair stood in disarray around his head, obviously self cut- probably with a knife- as there were chunks that were shorter and others that were much longer than the rest. His grey long-sleeved shirt was faded but looked to be in fair condition, if only it wasn't hanging off his frame like a tent. His pants were much better, looking fairly new compared to the rest of him, made from some sort of soft material that looked like a mix of sweats and jeans. Those, at least, fit him even if they were worryingly small.

His fingers clenched in his tabard, before he pushed himself up to intervene. Jasper looked like he was about to go feral and rip Leorio's face off. And what a strange thing it was to actually see the boy's expression, normally covered by that hood he always kept up.

Gon fell in step with him a moment later and they both sped over to the oncoming confrontation.

"Jas! Jas! I'm so happy you made it," Gon shouted, waving an arm above his head as he slung his pole over one shoulder.

Thankfully, this caught the boy's attention enough that he was able to quickly grab Leorio's elbow and drag him back. The older teen grunted but he didn't release his grasp, instead hissing up at the man. "He hasn't realized who we are yet!"

Leorio's face fell into chagrin when he realized his mistake. A hand came up to scrub through his short black hair and he let out a tired huff. "My bad," he murmured, watching Gon trying to talk to the boy who looked like a feral cat about to take a chunk of someone's flesh.

"What! Oh no, that's terrible! But I can prove I know you," Gon rambled. "You came to the Hunter Exam so you could find your family! You call me Greenie because you said colors are easier and green makes you feel safe. I promised to remind you when you forgot stuff and-"

"Ok! Ok! You can stop," Jasper whispered, his hands held up in a sign of surrender.

Leorio made a sound of dismay in the back of his throat and Kurapika could definitely see why. For one, the bandages were gone, and two, his palms were covered in bright red rashes that looked like they were forming blisters.

And that wasn't even mentioning all the other wounds he could see littering pale skin now that he was looking. A yellowing bruise sat low on his jaw, a shiny recently healed burn mark dipped into his hair and covered part of his ear, and his hands were still very obviously scratched up. It wasn't anything life threatening but to see them on a boy of Jasper's size and stature was not pretty.

"But I really don't remember you."

Gon huffed. "That's fine! We're friends and I still have my promise to keep. So, did you pass? Do you have enough badges?"

"Um, I dunno. Do I?"

And there were four badges in his hand now, one of which was his own. Kurapika was… relieved and scared all at once. The boy would be passing with them… but at the same time the boy would be passing with them. And they'd never know what he'd done to get those badges. Kurapika was already against helping Jasper pass from the beginning. It was nothing personal but he didn't want to be responsible for helping someone to pass that couldn't actually hold their own and had the issues that Jasper did. Jasper would be safe with them… but he'd thought he'd only be safe with them. And here he was being proven wrong.

Kurapika turned his eyes up to the foliage hoping for some sort of answer. An answer to what he wasn't sure, but he would definitely like one.

"That's awesome! You got six points," Gon exclaimed happily just as Killua sidled up to their group with curiosity written all over his face.

"Does six points mean I pass?"

"Yes!"

"Oh." It started slow. First a twitch of the lips, then the parting revealing his teeth. The corners twitched higher and higher until a full blown grin stretched across the boy's face. It did wonders to expel the lingering shadows, lighting up his pale face in sheer joy.

Kurapika had never compared the ocean- a deep sparkling blue that held untold depths but still shimmered with life- to anything before he'd seen Jasper's eyes.


AN: Anyone wanna tell me who Geezer is? *wiggles eyebrows*

Shoutouts: KrixLight- Not quite Killua kicking ass and taking name for his friend but I hope you enjoyed Jasper passing on his own! And a little sprinkle of his memory as well!

Yes. Jasper will start getting much better in upcoming chapters. He just to go through some... ordeals.

Tetractys- You're welcome! I'm glad the timeline made it a little more understandable :)