Blood is Thicker
Chapter 17
Just only three more, then we don't have to wait. Chrome frowned to herself as she flung a card into the thick wall of their new room. Unsuccessfully, the card fell down with a dent at its corner. Chrome had three hours to think about all the mistakes she had recently made, especially during the last trail. Hisoka and Chrome did not finish their 72-man brawl. Three remained alive when time ran out. Chrome blamed nobody but herself. She was too slow with no effective long ranged weapon, only the cards Hisoka had given her the night before. In her hands, they were no real threats. While Hisoka didn't have a problem when he was on stage elegantly making every opponent dropped to their knees, those monkeys were quick on their feet when avoiding her. Chrome needed to be better, faster, and more efficient.
For now, they'll have to wait three hours in this tiny room with nothing productive to do. While Hisoka built his house of cards, Chrome figured she should practice her cards throwing skills. Perhaps, she can master it before the Third Phase ends. Her body switched to autopilot as she threw those cards with intention of damaging the wall, but her mind began to wander off.
You kept whispering 'I'm sorry'. Killua's voice taunted her in her mind. And I think you cried too! It was because of that dream; that terrible dream from last night. Chrome's mind replayed it. Darkness and silence enveloped her. Those two voices called out her names with laughter—Chrome!—then desperation—Take my hand! Then, Papa called for her. I'm right here, little Chrome. Her body fell into the black abyss. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her last thoughts—I'm sorry. Gon. Killua.
Her frown deepened as she wondered why she had that dream. The Chrome in that dream was not her. That Chrome was lifeless, just a puppet with no control over her body. That Chrome chose to fall, but regretted her decision as she wept. She apologized to her friends. That Chrome is not me.
Her head shook the thoughts out of her mind once Chrome realized she ran out of cards. All fifty four of them were littered in a pile. A frustrated sigh escaped her as she fell backwards onto the cushions that act like a bed. There must be something she's missing. Clearly strength and accuracy aren't the only factors into making cards a murder weapon.
"What am I doing wrong?" her voice mumbled in defeat as her eyes stared into the white light on the ceiling. Chrome wasn't directing the question to the only other person in the room, but Hisoka felt obligated to answer her.
"Nen," the magician simply replied as he placed a card on his tower of cards with a smile.
The girl's body flipped over to lie on her stomach with her elbow propping her up to look at her partner in crime. "Nen? Is that what it's called?"
The man's squinted eyes widened in disbelieve. "Oh…you didn't learn it yet."
"No, not yet." Her head tilted to the side, then shook. "What is it, exactly?"
Hisoka eyes glazed at the yellowing ceiling as he tilted his head far back, debating if he should introduce such a difficult topic to the little girl. It's not his place to teach her Nen, but he did mention it. If anything, his explanation should be vague so she could decipher it on her own.
However as he pondered on his decision, the time dragged on too long as Chrome figured that Hisoka wouldn't answer her question. So she got up from her spot on the cushion to pick up the fifty four scattered cards. "I asked Papa about it, but he said I wasn't ready yet." She frowned at the thought of being too weak. "It's the thingy with Gyo and En, right?"
After a moment of silence, Chrome plopped down onto her seat with her damaged deck of cards. "I know everyone uses it, so why can't I?" Am I really that weak? So weak that Papa doesn't trust me? Is this what the Hunter Exam for? To prove that she is ready to learn about Nen? Chrome flung a card into the wall again. This time it stuck to the wall with only a centimeter deep, but still better than not!
"Yay!" Chrome grinned wildly as she raised both her hands up in victory! "Next is human flesh!"
Hisoka chuckled at her behavior as he believed that the girl had forgotten her previous questions. She did have the tendency to change her mood rather quickly.
After several more minutes of silence with occasional thumping of cards hitting the wall, Chrome broke the quietness around them. "Do you think I'm ready?"
Hisoka glanced up at the girl's back.
"Ready to learn how to use Nen, I mean." She elaborated her question as she looked down at her empty hands then at Hisoka for her answer. "I just want your opinion. Am I strong enough?"
Chrome had no idea why she asked that question. Perhaps to be reassured that she's stronger than she believed, but what if Hisoka thought otherwise? What if he thinks that she's only a nuisance? A pest? Chrome looked away, regretting asking that question. "You know what? Forget I asked. D-don't answer it."
Hisoka simply nodded at her request and made nothing of the question she asked. However, he did answer one after a minute of silence. "It's your aura."
Chrome turned around, "You're talking about Nen, right?"
"I would demonstrate but you wouldn't be able to see it anyway." Her partner teased with an innocent smile.
In response, she sighed in frustration as her back hit the cushions once again. "That's why you use Gyo, but I don't know how to do that yet."
Hisoka hummed in agreement. "Perhaps after the Exam, you'll be ready to learn it."
"Does that mean I can't use cards to kill yet?" Chrome toss a card up at the ceiling, but it fell back down and landed beside her.
"I'm afraid not."
Chrome sighed as she turned over to her side with realization that she had been wasting time throwing cards at the wall. Hisoka probably knew about this futile effort, maybe even laughing at her silently. Don't think about it, Chrome, but what should she do now? With almost two hours left to waste, Chrome decided to train to get away from her poisonous thoughts.
"Hisoka, spar with me."
The wait was over, and Chrome's body was covered in bruises. However, she didn't regret it one bit. It had been a long time since she was able to fight with all her strength in a close quarter combat with nothing but fist and dirty tricks. Hisoka probably didn't see much entertainment out of it, but at least she kept him on his toes and landed several hard hits. The room was in total ruins. The television split in half. Bookshelf fell. Books shattered and ripped. Cushions shredded. Walls cracked. It was amazing that wall didn't break through. Chrome and Hisoka didn't hold themselves back in this spar. Only thing that held them back was that they weren't supposed kill each other. They stopped once the timer ran out. Chrome was panting heavily in the end, and Hisoka was a bit disheveled.
As the partner in crime left the destruction of their room, the stopwatches read as 66:05:31. Five hours and 40 minutes had passed since the start of the Third Phase. Hisoka and Chrome was led down spiral stairs again, and was greeted by two metal doors at the bottom. They were standing side by side with a simple sign in between.
"This is where you two split up, but the rule still applies." Chrome read out loud, "By rules, I think they meant the one about partners not dying." She wanted to shrug, but her shoulders weren't responding too well. It didn't matter to them. There's no chance that Hisoka and Chrome will die in this tower. She scoffed at that idea. The trails were a breeze before, and it'll be a breeze now.
"I guess this is where we say our good byes," Hisoka hummed as he walked towards the left door. "I had…fun, little Chrome."
"Yup," the bruised child nodded in agreement and walked to the right one. The two metal doors slide open. "I'll see you at the bottom, Hisoka!"
The pair separated with the metal door closed behind them. Dim lamps lit the corridor for Chrome. With many doors on both side of this empty hallway, she felt slightly confused. Should she try opening all the doors, or just keep walking and wait for one to open by itself. The latter would work best. Since this Hunter examiner is a warden of this prison, he rather has almost direct control of all that's happening in this tower. He would be the one guiding Chrome through the tower and everyone else in it.
Just as Chrome thought, one of the doors creaked open as she walked passes it. There are two options for her now: enter or ignore it. She can probably anger the examiner if she chose to walk away and continued down the corridor, but she decided against it. Why waste more time than necessary? I rather beat Gon and Killua to the bottom, Chrome smiled to herself at the thought as she walked into the circular room.
A cloaked figure was seated on the floor, waiting for the girl. Once she was inside, the door closed behind her, and red candles spontaneously lit up around them.
"Well, well, well," Chrome's new opponent croaked out, "Look what we have here. A mere child. A girl, no less!"
The aforementioned child kept quiet with her arms crossed and weight shifted, waiting for criminal to reveal himself obnoxiously like every other prisoner here.
"Quiet, aren't we?" The figure stood up from his spot to stand six feet tall. "We'll just have to fix that."
There was silence as Chrome refused to answer him. Instead, she rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Now, now, that isn't how you greet a grown up."
Wow, I really can't wait to punch the life out of this prick.
Finally, her opponent revealed himself as a lean man with a dagger in each hand. Chrome's eye glistened as she spotted those blades. I want them. Before her rival can introduce himself as some Jack the Ripper or something like that, Chrome darted for him, for those blades. That close quarter combat with Hisoka really did loosen her up as she became faster than if they didn't spar.
"What the?" He got cut off as Chrome's right fist punched into his guts. The force had pushed him back and knocked him into brick wall.
"Man, that felt good!" The girl shook her right hand to loosen it.
Luckily the blades were dropped, so Chrome picked one up for herself. Waiting for him to get back up, she analyzed it. The dagger has a four-inch trailing-point curved blade, perfect for etching. The hilt is made out of metal with intricate designs etched into it.
Chrome heard the groaning opponent as he tried to regain his posture. "Now what to do?" She fiddled with the tip of the blade to test out its sharpness. "Kill you slowly, or kill you quickly?" Her eyes glared at the man who backed himself into the wall with fear in his eyes.
"I, I'm s-sorry! P-please, d-don't kill m-me. Please!"
"Why shouldn't I?" Chrome slowly walked towards him with the dagger in hand. "You're disposable. No one cares about you."
The man was at lost for words as his mouth gasped for breaths.
"I'll tell you what," Chrome cocked her head to the side as she reached into her backpack's side pocket. "Heads or tails? Get it right, and I'll spare you." She pulled out a single gold coin and showed it to him. The man nodded nervously in agreement. There's nothing else he could do, only agree to play this game of chance. However, Chrome didn't fail to notice his eyes shifted towards the other dagger on the floor. She almost rolled her eyes, seeing how obvious he was.
"Ready?" The coin was placed on top of Chrome's thumb as she kept a close eye on her enemy. There's no doubt that he would attempt to attack her when she flip the coin. "Heads or tails?"
"H-heads."
Chrome nodded and flicked her thumb. The coin is now air-borne, and the man darted for the weapon on the floor. Bad choice. His target was clear: the dagger. Chrome threw her newly obtained dagger at his forehead, and caught the coin. It didn't matter which side the coin landed on since the prisoner had a dagger embedded into his forehead. Dead.
"Yup, heads alright!" The girl giggled to herself as she removed the dagger from the corpse's head and wiped the blood on his clothes. There's no point on leaving the other one behind, Chrome thought as she packed both blades into her backpack and ventured forward as another metal door opened for her. "You should be happy that we're getting rid of all these prisoners for you!" Chrome stated before leaving the candle-lit room, knowing that Lippo the warden is watching her.
The next room was a stop. It was a small rectangular room with two giant buttons and a timer on the wall and a door to her left. Red button on the left was labeled Betray on the top, and the blue bottom on the right was labeled Ally. There were no instructions given so far, and Chrome did not dare to press those two buttons. Net yet, anyways. Her stopwatch said 65:55:42. Still plenty of time left. For the next few minutes, Chrome did nothing but inspect every inch of the small 5 by 9 room. However, she found nothing. No switch. No notification. Only an intercom, which mean the Hunter examiner will be giving her instructions in due time.
65:53:16. The intercom's static broke the silence in which the lone girl waited in. "Listen carefully now, I will be saying this only once. The rules are a bit more…confusing. Let me explain the Prisoners' Dilemma!
Basically, you and your partner are each given a choice to ally or to betray each other. Depending on your choices, there are a few outcomes. Outcome 1: if you both betray each other, then you both will wait 48 hours before continuing the trail. Outcome 2: if you both choose to ally, then you both will wait 24 hours before continuing. And Outcome 3: if one betrays the other and the other allies, then the one who betrays will automatically be sent to the bottom of the tower while the other will be sent back to the top. Within two minutes, you will have to decide; if not, you will automatically fail the Hunter Exam. Time starts now."
On cue the timer on the wall started counting downwards by the second.
Chrome's eyebrows furrowed together as she attempt to retain the new information that was given. She had two choices: ally with Hisoka or betray him. Automatically, her thoughts went to ally. That is what he is throughout the Third Phase; why would she betray him? Chrome thought her options thoroughly. If she does click the red button, Hisoka will be send to the top of the tower or they'll wait for 48 hours. She had no doubts that he'll get to the bottom if he chose to ally her. If Chrome chose the ally, there's a chance of waiting 24 hours or get send to the beginning. There's no doubt that she'll reach to the bottom in time. This "prisoners' dilemma" only delay their arrival time.
Chrome knew that Hisoka is more likely going to betray her than not. She has two choices: allow Hisoka to finish to the bottom first or wait 48 hours. Within those 48 hours, Gon and Killua might beat her to the bottom. Chrome's eyes glanced at the timer. Fifteen seconds remaining. Approaching the two buttons, Chrome knew which she would choose from the beginning. It's not the smartest choice, but she just couldn't choose the other option.
Her finger trembled as she pressed the blue button on the right. Wait for me, Gon, Killua.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading Chapter 17 of Blood is Thicker! I'm going to try something new! I made a Tumblr account for this story! I want to reply to all the reviews, but I don't want it taking up space at the bottom of the chapter (which is what some authors do). So I decided to reply to any and every review on Thicker-Is-Blood . tumblr . com (since Blood-is-Thicker was taken). You can ask questions and such on there, maybe even submit artworks! *nudge nudge, wink wink* Anyway, please review, and I'll see you in Chapter 18 of Blood is Thicker!