Disclaimer: I do not own anything but my OC.

Warnings: Violence.

CRYING WOLF
by: Riseha

Chapter 8

Test

I inhaled deeply.

The scent of the ocean breeze wafted up my nose, and I was ready to pass out.

I hated the sea and anything related to it, such as riding a rocking boat which won't stop swaying. Groaning, I stumbled for a handhold, leaning over and puking.

I was sure the ship had yet to move.

I couldn't imagine how I would suffer through the real boat-ride.

"Urk," I covered my mouth, glancing up the same time I felt someone tapping repeatedly on my shoulder. I blinked, the world was still swimming, and stared at the muddled figure of a green clad boy. "What?" I demanded, irritated.

"Um, are you okay?" he asked, concerned in his big brown eyes. wretch

He looked familiar, however, my mind was too muddled to give an appropriate response other than sarcastic ones. "What on earth do you mean? Do I look okay—urk!" Abruptly, I turned away from him and bowed over the railing, retching into the ocean.

"Here," the boy pressed a cool water bottle against my heated cheeks. I glanced at him suspiciously—well, there was no harm since I was immune to most poison anyway—before taking it and gulping it down. "How do you feel now?"

I blinked; the world was starting to get sharper, the whale in my stomach wasn't as mean as before—I think I was getting better... as long as I stopped moving anyway.

"Thanks," I whispered breathlessly as I slumped down onto the wooden ground, hearing a man shout something, an order for them to release the ropes. I winced, we're moving off soon. "What's your name?"

"I'm Gon!"

"Oh, how familiar... wait, what?"

"I said my name's Gon," the brown-eyed boy repeated patiently, still smiling down at me. "What's your name?"

"Noel," I said, mind still whirling at the prospect of meeting the series' protagonist. I was not the one who picked the name; Noelle did, she said she wanted to name me after her. Ugh, half the time, I wonder what she's thinking. "Noel Kycdolz. KAI-DOLZ," I added the last part kindly when he struggled with my last name.

I wondered what sort of idiot would not know that my supposed last name was merely the alternate spelling of Zoldyck; just spelled from behind. I supposed I was asking for trouble, by advertising who I really was.

But—call me an idiot or impatient brat—I was sick of waiting, sick of hiding like a coward.

I wanted to see my brothers again, above all, I want to see Killua and Illumi.

I want to know why the latter tried to kill me.

I want to know how Killua was doing; was he still the same sweet, crazy, boy I knew from years ago?

How has it been since I last saw him?

My heart throbbed, reminding me that we had four years to catch up on and damn did I miss him. Of course I missed Alluka and Milluki too. I didn't know about Kalluto, we barely bonded but I guess I would like to see him too (though I doubted he missed me since we weren't all that close).

"Is something wrong?" Gon asked again. I blinked. "You look a little pale."

I shook my head. "No, just... missing my family," I mumbled, blushing slightly, wondering why I was suddenly confessing something so intimate to him.

He didn't laugh, didn't try to make me feel better for which I was glad. He crouched before me. "Why did you leave them?" he asked, eyes filled with curiosity.

"It wasn't by choice," I mumbled, pulling my knees up to my chest, burying the lower half of my face. "I had to go."

Gon did not pry. "I left my family back home too," he offered, smiling. "But not because I had to, I wanted to find my father. You could say that I left my family to find another member of my family, if it makes any sense. Heh." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"I'm sure you'll find your old man," I finally said, awkward, not knowing how to continue the conversation. I wasn't exactly the chatty-type, that was Killua's job.

"How's your dad like?"

"Unlikable, I... hate him," I muttered, finding the abrupt never-before-contemplated statement true. I hated him. Why? Maybe because a part of me feared that he'd kill me, a part of me that knew he'd probably ordered Illumi to kill me for whatever reason.

"But surely you'll save him if he's danger!"

I scoffed, unable to hide the bitterness. "What sort of question is that? Of course I'll leave my old man to rot—I only care about my siblings."

Gon wrinkled his nose. "I don't get you."

"Every family is different," I offered, in case we get into a pointless argument. I gazed out at the horizon, resting my head against the hard surface behind me. "Why did you join the Hunter Exam?" I asked even though I already knew the answer.

"I want to become a Hunter because I want to find my father, only by becoming a Hunter like him, I'll be able to see him. What about you?" Gon looked curiously at me.

I shifted. "My teacher insisted," I said. "and, there's someone here I want to meet."

"Who?"

"My brother."

Gon grinned. "Congratulations! You found your family before I did, how long were you guys separated anyway?"

"Four years."

Gon blinked. "That's the same time I started missing my father. Guess we're the same, we waited long enough..." he trailed off, blinking. "It took you four years to see your brother again, I hope I can see my dad in the same span of time."

"He'll be proud of you," I mumbled, somewhat bitter.

I couldn't help myself. I was jealous of Gon. I knew his dad had confidence in him, loved him and believed he'd do the right thing; Gon had a father who loved his child and would protect said child.

I want a dad like him.

I couldn't help but feel the stirring jealousy; why can't I have a dad like him?

"Noel?"

I turned away, eyes fixated on the sky.

The sun was setting.

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I tumbled out of my hammock, jerking awake.

In the four years I spent with my esteemed (note the sarcasm) sensei, and thanks to Illumi's sneak attacks during the middle of the nights, I was used to waking up in an instant, no grogginess clutching me as I prepared myself for danger.

Just as I stumbled onto my feet, I was sent flying off the ground.

Yelping, I scrambled for a handhold, trying to steady myself as Hunter hopefuls fell with me, their body connecting with the boat walls with a loud thud.

Oh, the boat was moving?

I felt faint, my grip on the hammock loosening enough for me to slid backwards. My head connected painfully with the walls, but I didn't even wince, too used to pain.

I've been through worse, I decided as I stumbled to my feet again, once the rocking had lessened enough for me to run out of the cabin.

I ran smack dab into someone else. Grunting, I stepped back, someone reached out to steady me. I glanced up into cool grey eyes, blond hair framed his face and his skin glowed under on the dark. I pulled away, not saying my gratitude; I would've been perfectly fine without his help.

"Are you okay, miss?"

I nodded. "Yeah," I sniffed the air, smelling thunder, rain and the ocean. I scowled. "Storm?"

"Yes."

"Oh," I muttered sarcastically. "Great." I latched onto the closest railing when the rocking started again. I was sure the boat had been thrown upside down with how wild my world rocked, but when my vision cleared, I was half-crouching, half-laying and the ground.

I pulled myself back up.

"Do you think it's over?" I asked.

The older boy shrugged. "No idea, come on, let's go check it out..."

"Noel."

"Kurapika."

I know, I thought silently but didn't comment as I ran after him. I peeked over his shoulder, seeing Gon running about like a lunatic as he rushed about to treat those with sea-sickness. I saw him holding the bottle from earlier. I rolled my eyes. Please, if these guys remained the way they were, there'd be lesser competitions in the Exams.

"Let's help," Kurapika muttered as he stepped forward.

I scowled, I hated doing charity work, especially when I wouldn't be getting anything in the end. The Zoldyck family had pounded it into my head that unless there was a reward for my help, I should be less inclined to help.

Ah, but, this Hunter Exam was a two-way street. Time to act like I'm a good person and make everyone feel indebted to me.

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"Why do you want to be a Hunter, kids?"

I refrained from rolling my eyes at the cliched question.

Kurapika and Leorio (or, Uncle as Gon called him) were silent, clearly unwilling to answer. Gon wasn't as inclined to be so secretive.

"To meet my father!" he declared, almost proudly.

The drunkard of a captain glanced expectantly at me.

"To meet my brother," I deadpanned. "and because my mentor guilt-tripped me into this."

"My reasons are..." Kurapika hesitated. "Too personal to be said out loud."

Leorio glanced at Kurapika, a tick irritated by the younger boy's arrogance and secretiveness. "Why so secretive?"

"Why are you so nosy?"

I scoffed, shoving my hands into my black hoodie, looking away and tuning out the argument. I trailed after Gon obediently, trying to 'help' him stop their fight. I was ready to see them fight.

Like the old man, I was quite excited about challenging others and checking out their powers would be awesome.

The moment I came out and saw the wild sea, and the dark clouds and pounding rain, I was ready to crawl back inside the cabin and sleep away. I blinked rapidly to keep the rain out of my eyes and to keep myself from passing out; my stomach churned, as I squinted through the rain, trying to make my way back.

"Hey, stop fighting—gah!"

I cried out when someone slammed into me, sending me skidding backwards. I felt my hips smacking soundly with the metal railing, it stung a little but what alarmed me more was that I was tumbling right off.

I blanched, stretching my hand to reach the railing. My grip slipped because of the lack of friction caused by the rain. Someone caught my hand before I could fall into the ocean, I squinted and I saw Gon.

"Idiot! You'd just fall into the ocean with me—"

Our fall stopped. I felt my body crashing against the lower half of the boat before I was hauled up.

"Whoa!" Gon laughed as we were momentarily suspended in air, before we fell to the ground. He landed on his back but he didn't seem to mind the pain as I landed on all fours.

I glanced at Kurapika and Leorio. "Thanks," I said.

I had always been a bit prideful, and thanking someone was hard for me. After spending four years with my mentor however, I'd slowly come to say the dreaded word.

Only when the person wasn't an ass and was deserving of it.

I sprang to my feet nimbly, before, very, very hesitantly, reached out a hand for Gon to take. "Get up," I mumbled when I saw his wide-eyed wonder, blushing slightly from embarrassment when everyone stared at me.

I knew I hadn't made a good first impression on them. Because of sea-sickness and my general inability to be a social butterfly, I was came off as a rude and sarcastic person. Not that I could help myself, I was ill and was ready to get off the boat, regretting having taken this path to the Exams in the first place.

He took my head and I pulled, he was surprisingly light for a boy his age. I wondered if he was underweight or I was just that strong.

I tilted my head to the side in response to his word of thanks.

I glanced at the horizon again, frowning slightly when the sunlight shone right onto my sensitive right eye.

"The sun's rising, the storm's past us now! Yay!"

I glanced up, realizing that Gon was right; the clouds were parting.

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"This place is deserted," Leorio said flatly, frowning as he glanced about. "Did we get the wrong place? Did the captain trick us? Does he expect us to swim 60 miles per hour to reach the Examination grounds—"

I smiled slightly. Sometimes, Leorio's dramatics could be amusing.

"No," I said. "They're here, I can sense them." Their Nen was blatantly obvious.

"I can smell them," Gon added, tilting his head to the side. "Wonder why they're hiding though..."

"I can hear them as well," Kurapika said, frowning as he glanced around. "Perhaps there is immediate danger here—wait. They're coming out of hiding."

I studied them curiously, eyeing each and every villager carefully.

I caught unimpressed looks thrown my way. I knew I didn't look intimidating or Hunter-worthy with my worn hoodie, ripped jeans and combat boots. It didn't help that I wasn't too tall for girls my age either. I probably looked like a ten-year-old in the middle of a battlefield.

"Come on," I muttered, taking few steps forward.

"Very interesting," the old hag—or was it a man, I couldn't tell, kids and old people were androgynous looking most of the time which was annoying and confusing—murmured. "Now... for the exciting quiz of two answers!" She paused dramatically, then glanced at the villager surrounding her.

Everyone clapped dutifully.

How fake. I wondered if they were being forced to partake this stupid ritual.

"Why should we waste our time with this?" Leorio scoffed, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"You're heading for that tree on the mountain, aren't you?" Not one of us answered her but she continued anyway. "If you want the least trouble, you'll have to leave this village, the other paths are confusing labyrinths and full of traps and monsters set up to eliminate candidates."

"So we have no choice," I grunted, shifting on my feet. "Let's get this show on the road."

"You'll only have five seconds to consider your answer, and if you fail to answer, you'll be disqualified, and you'll have to answer with either the number one or two, other answers are invalid." the old hag said, grinning toothlessly, reminding me of old Maha for a while before I blinked the memory away. "First question—"

"Hold it!" Leorio protested. "One question for three people? What if he"—Leorio jabbed a thumb in Kurapika's direction—"answers wrong? We'll be disqualified together?!"

"Highly unlikely," Kurapika deadpanned. "The chances of you disqualifying us is more likely. The idea of answering together makes my heart throb in pain."

I sniggered. "Best not to let him answer then, I'm confident in my IQ."

"You little—" I yelped, abruptly finding myself in a chokehold. I nearly hurled Leorio off me with my enhanced strength, but I reminded myself that he didn't know my family taught me to avoid physical contact as much as possible.

Fortunately for me, Kurapika who was also in a chokehold elbowed our captor, freeing us instantly. I rubbed my neck, not feeling any particular pain but awkwardness.

Sure Killua and I had our own share of physical contact, beating the shit out of one another, hugging, snuggling, holding hands, trying to kill one another etc. But he'd never catch me in a chokehold before.

I wondered if that was what normal older brothers from normal families usually did to their younger siblings.

"Sorry, kids, I'll be answering first." I blinked, pulling myself out of my reverie to stare blankly at the newcomer. He smirked at us. "I eavesdropped on you guys, so I know."

"Sure," Leorio muttered, blinking owlishly. "you can go first."

"Let's see what sort of question she asks of us," I added, crossing my arms and listening attentively.

"Here is the question: your mother and lover are captives of a demon. You can only save one; your mother, choice 1 or your lover, choice 2."

The answer was very obvious to me: my lover. My mother wasn't loving, I had no illusions that she had ever loved me. She never loved me, so I don't love her; I'd definitely leave her to rot.

I was silent; this question didn't demand our honesty, it was a trick question to test our compassion. I better remain silent and see what the others came up with.

"1!" The stranger instantly answered. I could tell he was lying and he probably would've saved his lover instead.

"Why?"

"A mother is unique," he said with little conviction. "mothers went through great pain to bring us into this world; lovers don't."

"Depends on what sort of person you have for a lover or a mother," I mumbled, shuffling behind Kurapika when the old hag's eyes narrowed pointedly at me, but she didn't comment, just whispered to her villagers then pointed him down a path her villagers had cleared.

Leorio exploded the moment the shorty disappeared.

"Are you mocking us!" he yelled. "What's with that impossible quiz?!"

"That's why it's not possible for us to answer," I mumbled.

"That's it, brat!" Leorio jabbed his forefinger in my nose. "One more wisecrack from you and you're scrap!" Then he turned his glare on the old lady. "This is ridiculous! I'm leaving and taking another path! Who the hell could say who's right or wrong anyway?!"

The old hag scoffed. "Too late," she cackled gleefully. "if you leave, you'll be disqualified. But that's to be expected, you don't have the true soul of a hunter..."

Leorio growled.

"Leorio!" Kurapika called.

"Don't tell me you're taking the quiz!"

"Enough with the arguments!" The old hag declared, standing up and glaring at us. "From now on, any useless words other than the answer 1 or 2 will count as disqualification! Answer: 1, accept the quiz. 2: refuse it and leave."

I hummed. The guy's Nen was gone but he was supposed to still be within my rage, which meant that he's dead. The 1st answer was the wrong one.

I don't think she'll be asking us the same question.

"1," I said, Kurapika and Gon repeating the same, and very reluctantly, Leorio did the same.

"Okay, question: your son and daughter have been kidnapped, you can only save one. 1, daughter; 2, son; who do you chose?"

Leorio's nostrils flared, eliciting a chuckle from me; these guys were amusing, I can see why Kill wanted friends. I wanted them as my friends too, things would be more interesting then.

"Five, four, three..."

I glanced at Leorio who'd moved and grabbed a conveniently placed wooden bat. He swung it, vein in his forehead throbbing as he exercised his muscles.

"There it is," the old woman said. "It's over."

Leorio roared, lunging.

I snickered as Kurapika lunged, his own wooden swords meeting Leorio's.

"Leorio! Calm down!"

"Are you shitting me? Forget being a Hunter! I'll be doing society a deed: get rid of physcho old hags who torment people! I'm going to Zaban with a gift: her head!"

"We won," I said, trying to make the situation better. "Silence is the solution. You said it yourself, it's impossible to tell which answer is right and which is wrong. So we can't answer; the rules require that, if we want to answer, we'll have to answer either 1 or 2, no rules say that we can't keep silent."

"But that guy—"

"He's dead," I announced flatly. "I heard his scream. The way he took was the wrong one. He got eaten by something, I guess. Too bad, so sad."

"Exactly," the old hag said, tottering towards us with her walking stick. "This way is the right one," she nodded to the two villagers who were pushing apart two camouflaged doors. "After two hours of walk, you'll reach the tree."

I smirked at Leorio.

"You owe her an apology."

"I'm sorry, obaa-san," he said, tone extremely polite.

The old woman merely grinned. "It's okay. I accepted this job because I want to meet people like you. Keep hanging on and you'll be a good Hunter."

I doubt that I will.

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It was after a very, very long moment of silence before Gon spoke.

"I really don't understand at all," he said. We stared at him. "I don't say this to have an answer to that question, but, a day may come where I'll have to make that choice."

We were silent. Not even Leorio commented.

"Gon's right," I said. "That's the real meaning of the quiz. You have to imagine everything, be prepared for the worst, when the time comes to chose between loved ones. Because reality doesn't have a place for feelings, it doesn't feel pity. We have to be prepared to walk down that path someday, where we'll be possibly killing someone close to us with our decisions."

Leorio squinted at me.

"I didn't think you were those type that think deeply about philosophy."

"No," I agreed. "I'm just speaking from experience."

Kurapika blinked. "What happened?"

"There's no loved ones involved. It's a situation similar enough at least. The choices were between myself and my precious person. Who do I save from pain of loneliness and abandonment?"

Gon blinked. "Who did you chose?"

I stared ahead.

"Myself."

Somewhere, some far away place, I heard a seagull cry out in anguish.

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QUESTION: Who do you think Illyria's elusive mentor is?

Right, people wanted a list of character pov from the last chapter. I shall provide thee with this:

- i, vii, Illumi

- ii, viii, Kalluto

- iii, ix, Alluka

- iv, Milluki

- v, x, Killua

- vi, Maha (special, bonus non-sibling character, who, might or might nor play an important role)

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