The sunlight reflected off Killua's stark white hair and straight into my eyes. I flinched. Of course Killua noticed.

He raised one white eyebrow at my behavior so I pointedly glared at his hair and then at the direction of the sun.

Killua's mouth formed a knowing smirk as he turned back around to listen to Beans.

"...at the top of Trick Tower", Bean was saying.

I nudged Leorio. "What was he saying before? Killua was being distracting so I missed it."

Leorio hissed,"This is the beginning of Phase 3. Please shut it Avi so I know what's going on!"

I shrugged. Somebody was in a pissy mood.

Speaking of moods...my eyes fell on Kurapika, who hadn't even acknowledged me whatsoever for the entire day. Then again he probably felt weird about me falling asleep on him. Hell, I felt weird about it.

"To pass this phase you must reach the tower's base alive", Beans cut in.

The edge of Kurapika's mouth pulled up into a small smile. I inched closer to him and whispered,"They're becoming predictable. Everything's life or death in the exam".

Surprisingly Kurapika responded,"It is the Hunter Exam." We shared a small, quick smile.

"The time limit is seventy-two hours", Beans continued, "With that we will now begin the Third Phase!"

I shared a skeptical look with Kurapika. Was Beans for real?

We were given no directions on how to even enter the tower!

Beans grabbed the rope ladder which had been tossed down to him from the airship.

"Best of luck to everyone", he called as the airship sped away.

I sighed and glanced at Kurapika. Time to be obnoxious just because I wanted to!

I threw an arm around his broad shoulders. "Okay great leader", I mocked. Kurapika rolled his eyes but didn't remove my arm from his shoulders. "What do you recommend?"

He sighed and finally shrugged my arm off. So boring. I huffed angrily, not even a legit reaction from him!

Leorio cackled behind me. "You're becoming predictable Avi!"

I huffed angrily once more and turned to follow Killua and Gon who were staring at the edge of the tower.

Leorio walked behind me. "Are we supposed to climb down"?

I squinted. Was there any possible way we could climb down?

"That would be suicide", Kurapika answered.

I blinked and saw motion out of the corner of my eye.

Kurapika was staring at me. "Any ideas", he inquired?

I sighed and looked around.

"Wait", I began,"We're at the top of Trick Tower...right?"

Kurapika rolled his eyes and suddenly stopped mid-motion.

His tawny eyes narrowed. "If we can't climb down then there has to be another entrance on this floor..."

I nodded enthusiastically! "Yes! And-"Maybe it's suicide for a normal person", Applicant 86 butted in.

I lost my train of thought and turned to stare at him. I nudged Kurapika. "Do we have any rope?" I whispered.

"But a top-class rock climber can handle this, no problem", he said confidently as he lowered himself down the wall.

Kurapika frowned at me. "Nope".

Next to me Gon sniffed the air,"Smells like...bird and...something?"

Leorio chuckled,"I'm hungry too Gon!"

Gon huffed. "That's not what I mean!"

I rolled my eyes.

Suddenly a strange dark red bird thing flew near Applicant 86 who began screaming.

"Stop it", he howled in vain as he threw out a desperate arm to defend himself,"Go away!"

Gon stiffened in shock, Leorio held his briefcase to his chest like it was a life-line, Killua looked bored, and Kurapika looked slightly shocked, but mostly blank, as per usual.

Crank! Applicant 86's legs broke in the mouth of one of the bird creatures.

"Help me!", he screamed at us.

I shuddered and blindly took several steps back. I always hated gore.

Suddenly the ground gave way beneath my feet.

"Ahh!", I screamed as I plunged into Trick Tower.

Smack! I landed on my side and rolled over with a pained groan. Fuuuuuck.

I opened my eyes and saw a pale face with oily yellow eyes staring right at me.

Immediately I stood up and stared back.

"Hisoka", I said,"I'm surprised to see you here."

Hisoka chuckled and removed his hand from another applicant's back.

I blinked in confusion. "What are you doing? Why are you touching him?"

Hisoka took a step towards me. I was extremely proud that I didn't take a step back.

He threw me a disturbing smile.

"Deciding whether or not you are worthy", Hisoka responded.

He continued,"You did not prove your worth during Phase One, so perhaps you might prove it now..."

I gripped my switchblade and brought it in front of me. If I was going to die, then I would die happily knowing that I would give Hisoka a scar so ugly that no surgery could fix it.

Hisoka rolled his eyes at my weapon. "Now let's not hurt yourself over taking the test. The test itself will be difficult enough."

A card appeared in his hand, an ace. I blinked and the next thing I knew my switchblade was in Hisoka's free hand.

My jaw dropped in shock and I spun around trying to find an exit.

Hisoka began walking toward me with his hand out.

I kicked dust at Hisoka at immediately lunged to the left only to find that Hisoka had anticipated this.

And now he held my right arm in an iron grip.

Hisoka's fingers tightened as I tried to pry them off my arm but...it didn't work.

"Let go", I screeched in panic as I felt Hisoka put his hand on my back.

"I will soon", Hisoka coolly said as I continued to thrash.

Something felt...unblocked. That's the only thing I registered as I fell to the ground in shock and exhaustion.

I rolled onto my back and looked up at Hisoka.

"What did you-". Even talking had become too exhausting.

Hisoka smirked at me. "I simply released your life force, or nen. Now figure out how to save yourself like any Hunter should be able to do."

Hisoka began to turn. "Wait!", I weakly rasped with the last of my fading strength.

Hisoka stopped and turned around. I squinted. There...around him was some kind of light? 'Nen', my mind reminded me,'That's nen'.

I glanced down at the smoke-like substance that seemed to be surrounding me...and dissipating from my body...

Maybe I was feeling weak because of this nen stuff. Why wasn't Hisoka weak and dying like I was?

My mind began to slow...this was bad. I glanced at the clown bastard who started this problem and saw that his nen seemed to be around him, but not leaving him.

Maybe I had to contain my nen?

As my vision began to turn to gray at the edges I closed my eyes and focused on containing my nen...

Immediately I felt my strength stop leaving me.

Slow clapping broke my concentration.

Hisoka laughed coldly. "Very good. I thought you would perish like the other four applicants."

Hisoka gestured behind him to the dead corpses of the applicants. I turned my head the opposite direction. I hated dead bodies, especially when they began to smell from poison.

Hisoka grabbed my shoulder and I flinched.

He smiled and I leaned away from him in fear. It didn't help that I could barely move because I was exhausted from the near death experience moments before.

Hisoka opened his mouth to say something but instead shut it and raised his hand.

I blinked. What was he going to...?

Pain sprouted from the right side of my head and I immediately fell unconscious.

The gravel dug into the side of my face as I slowly became aware of my surroundings.

I groaned and slowly pushed myself up. I rubbed my aching head. It felt like I had been hit by a truck.

After glancing around the room I realized there were three other applicants present: Hisoka, the creepy robot-man, and a bald man.

Hisoka was building a tower of cards looking bored. The bald man was eyeing me suspiciously. Robot man was...asleep?

I huffed and drew myself up. Putting one foot in front of the other as I was still feeling tired, I was to Hisoka and sat down in front of him.

I paused for a moment, waiting to see if Hisoka would react.

Of course, Hisoka didn't. That was to be expected.

Hisoka drew out a card, a three.

"Can you use any cards from your deck to kill people or do you use specially designed ones?", I asked.

Hisoka still ignored me.

"Why did you even bother helping me or messing with my...what did you call it? Nen? And you aren't even going to tell me why?"

Hisoka still ignored me. I shut down emotions of rage and sighed in frustration.

I then quietly asked Hisoka,"Why?"

Hisoka smiled and placed the three so it was leaning against a Jack.

"Now she asks the correct question", he quietly responded.

He stopped playing with his tower of cards and looked up at me.

"What is your background, Avi?", Hisoka asked.

I blinked. That was the first time he had addressed me by my name. "You actually know who I am?", I questioned.

Hisoka rolled his eyes in a show of annoyance, which he seemed to do a lot around me. "I know who everybody is. You are a merchant's daughter whose parents dabble in the Black Markets. Who frequents the Black Markets?"

I drew in a short breath. "You're a customer?", I timidly guessed. Hisoka said nothing but raised an eyebrow. No...that still wouldn't explain why Hisoka hauled my unconscious body through Trick Tower.

"No", I quickly said as Hisoka began to return to his card tower,"You are an ally of some sort of my parents."

Hisoka gave me a slight nod. "Your parents and I work together. Very intelligent people. Unfortunately you have seemed to inherit only a fraction of their cleverness."

My mood soured. "So what? I'm still alive, aren't I?"

Hisoka stared at me point-blank and deadpanned,"That's because you have tshuaj in your backpack. You have a dull switchblade which you have not mastered, you cannot defend yourself."

Hisoka lowered his head and shook it. "Not what I would have expected from the daughter of one of my closest allies." He looked back up at me. "If I am to benefit from this alliance I have with your parents, I need to make certain you stay alive. At least until you have obtained your Hunter's License."

I blinked at this unexpected revelation. "Ummm...I've never even seen you before the exam. How do I know you are telling the truth?"

Hisoka snickered and placed the five next to the Jack. "You don't. But you need to be trained. We have met before the exam. You could be a formidable opponent given time and training."

"And this nen thing?", I asked,"I can see yours and those of bald guy and robot guy. Why can I see it now? What did you do?"

Hisoka shrugged. Damn it!

I stopped and thought back to what Hisoka said. "Are you offering to...train me?", I asked.

Hisoka looked up at me. "You need training or you will die. Another candle lit with too strong of a flame, too quickly. You will only become destroyed and melt."

"Why do you care?", I questioned. His answer would haunt me for days.

Hisoka's yellow eyes too on an oily, yellow sheen. He licked his lips. "The only person who has ever scarred me is your mother. Unfortunately for me, she does not want a re-match." He glanced at me.

"Hopefully like mother, like daughter. Or sister."

I twitched backwards in shock. How did Hisoka know so much about my family!? This disturbed me...

Hisoka began chuckling as he swept a hand through his card tower, knocking it down.

My eyes met his in anger and I watched as Hisoka's nen vanished while mine seemed to flare in anger.

"Stop manipulating me!", I ordered,"I don't care what you want or why you're really willing to help me! But these partial-answers end now!"

I watched as Hisoka's nen appeared again and seemed to flare outward, meeting mine.

I shuddered in fear at the cold, threatening feeling.

Hisoka blinked and cocked his head to the side.

He wanted to fight now. I didn't know how I knew, but I realized that I had to leave. Now.

"See you when we train", I quickly spoke as I turned away from Hisoka and walked toward the bald man.

Maybe the bald applicant could give me answers regarding nen...

"Nen", repeated Hanzo with a confused look on his face.

His dark eyes narrowed. "Are you for real? Then again you're one of Hisoka's friends so you're probably out of touch with reality."

I narrowed my eyes in return and said with a snotty voice," Hisoka and I are not friends. I don't know why he helped me-"Enough", Hanzo said with an air of finality,"You appear nice, innocent. But you're competition. You're telling me that there's nen, or whatever, surrounding all of us in this room. You're telling me about something I don't see."

As Hanzo's nen flared in anger he said the words I always hated to hear,"Stop wasting my time, girl".

"Ugh!", I screeched in frustration as my stupid nen, which suddenly appeared around me, flared.

Time to go question robot man.

I stomped over to robot man and asked him point-blank. "What's flaring around you? It's nen...isn't it?"

Robot man looked at me and simply clicked.

My shoulders fell and I shook my head. "I can't even understand you", I sadly said.

"Hisoka fucked something up and now I can see...nen or whatever".

Robot man clicked again.

I sat next to him and stared at the door leading to the room.

We still had 30 more hours until the Third Phase is over. And I was so bored.

I glanced at Hisoka who I definitely did not wat to talk to, then Hanzo who glowered at me from his corner.

Robot man's eyes met mine.

I threw him a small smile. "Want to play rock-paper-scissors?"

Robot man clicked and held out a fist.

Kurapika, Gon, Killua, and Leorio were nowhere in sight.

After glancing at the clock in the room to confirm the number of minutes left, then at the door, I sighed in worry.

They weren't going to make it.

My friends...people I semi-trusted, whatever weren't going to pass Phase Three.

Robot man clicked again, drawing my attention.

I counted down,"Rock, paper scissors!" And threw scissors.

Robot man had done the same.

"Damn", I said as he clicked,"Another draw!"

And a loss. Kurapika, Leorio, Gon, and Killua weren't going to make it.

"Three minutes remain", the voice over the loudspeaker boomed.

"Come on guys", I muttered in desperation as I stood up and began to pace.

The door opened and I immediately turned toward it-I paused. Nope. That man had yellow hair, but it wasn't gold like Kurapika's. He was too short, too tattered looking to be Kurapika.

"Made it in time", he gasped as he stumbled in and collapsed.

Immediately Applicant 198 checked the other applicant's neck for a pulse. "he's dead."

I winced. That must suck to clear the Phase but then die at the end.

Applicant 199 voiced my thoughts. "The fool. Better to live and try again than to pass and die".

My backpack strap slipped down my shoulder from the pacing so I pulled it back up.

"One minute remains", the voice from the loudspeaker boomed.

Applicant 198, one of the three brothers looked at the other two in victory. "Looks like it'll just be the 20 here!"

I had been hoping it would have been 24.

I shifted my backpack to one shoulder and sat down. I had to accept the fact that my new allies were going to be Hisoka and Robot man. Even though Hisoka is a manipulative liar and Robot man didn't talk at all to me, they still didn't want to kill me. For some reason.

A door suddenly opened. I stood up.

Kurapika's golden hair shone even in the dim lighting. But his light reddish aura shone even brighter. It was a beautiful color. It was the color of the Kurta eyes.

I smiled and walked toward him, Killua, and Gon.

"Glad you made it", I said with a small smile. Why was I feeling relieved? Why did I care so much?

"My butt hurts", Killua groaned,"I didn't expect a slide for the short and easy path!"

I laughed and Killua's icy blue eyes glared at me.

"That was close", Gon said to Kurapika.

He chuckled, "My hands are covered in blisters."

I raised an eyebrow. "That was really close. Too close. What happened?"

Kurapika turned to me and said,"Majority rule sometimes has inefficiencies. Unfortunately we discovered those inefficiencies throughout Trick Tower."

"Hmm", I thoughtfully hummed.

"When did you arrive?", Kurapika asked.

I opened my mouth to explain but was thankfully disrupted by Leorio and the middle-aged, fat man Tonpa who were shoving each other.

I sent an icy glare Tonpa's way. I reeeeaaaally hated that man. Especially because of what he said on the airship. I should kill him now.

Kurapika took a step closer to me. "Your answer?"

I took a quick breath and debated whether or not to tell him the truth. It might scare him off like it did with Hanzo.

I looked up at the ceiling and shrugged. "Hisoka helped me."

Kurapika's tawny eyes widened in surprise. "What?", he said in a strangled voice.

I shrugged. "I don't know why he helped me. All I know is that he did...Hisoka did something to me..."

Kurapika instantly put a comforting hand on my shoulder and stared at me. "Whatever it is, how can I help solve this problem?"

I looked up at him and blinked. "You're generous...and too kind. That will get you killed one day", I truthfully advised him.

Kurapika shut his eyes, reopened them and responded,"If I did not treat you with the equality and respect you deserve, what kind of person would I be? You did help me avoid being injured by the tortoise in Phase One."

I sent him a weak smile. "Do you know what nen is?"

Kurapika removed his hand and looked off into the distance. "I'm not familiar with nen. I have not read about it in any of my texts..."

I sighed in defeat. "I don't know."

The voice on the loudspeaker interrupted our conversation. "Phase Three is complete. 26 applicants have passed, 1 has died."

A door opened, allowing the sunlight to stream in.

I watched Kurapika's golden hair seem to glow with sunlight as brightly as his warm, red aura.

Why did he have to be such a kind person...no, such a caring friend?

Why did I have second-thoughts about killing him? Maybe I wasn't as emotionally-detached as I had hoped I would be.

I shook my head in confusion.