Riven gasped as a threatening hill appeared from the darkness of the tunnel. "Stairs!" She groaned. Her side was throbbing and sweat trickled down her neck in rivulets. And her underarms were moist.

It was boring, running, but she focused. She took two stairs at a time since they were placed tightly together. Other examinees did the same. She calculated that they were about eighty kilometers from the entrance now. Around her, others dropped like flies. She wondered when she would join them.

She accidentally stepped on one man's stomach, and he let out a groan of pain. She winced, but kept her pace.

A blinding light peaked from atop the staircase. It hurt her eyes, but Riven still looked at it anyways. From the looks of it, half of the applicants that were in front of her were already free. Her pace picked up.

The cool air and fog hit her sweat-streaked face, and goose-bumps rose on her arms. Her hands were on her knees the moment her feet hit the grass, panting.

"Hey, Riven!"

Gon came to greet her, the white haired boy behind him, observing. She grinned at his endurance, enviously wishing she had it but unable to resist the smile the boy induced.

"This isn't the second phase, is it?" she hoped, wiping sweat from her forehead. For the most part, the fog was too thick to see through, but there were black silhouettes scattered about.

"No. This is still the first phase."

Riven moaned and shook her head. Inhumane!

"Kurapika!" Gon cheered. Riven turned as Kurapika, in all of his sweaty glory, emerged from the fog. He was no longer draped in his royal blue cloak with red symbols, but a white training outfit. A hunched figure followed, practically crawling. It took her a moment to realize that it was Leorio..

Riven knelt by his side and helped him rise to his feet to finish the last three steps out of the cove. Once he was on his feet, she pulled away from him.

"Is this our destination?" Kurapika examined the fog.

"Gon didn't think so," she frowned. "But it looks like the difficulty will be increasing, regardless." Following Satotz blind was not ideal.

"I see." He sighed, obviously disappointed. Then, "the fog is beginning to clear."

The murky air dissipated gradually. Individual's regained their color and forms, until Satotz, all the way in front of the group, was visible as well. "The Numere Wetlands; also known as Swindler's Swamp," he introduced after the cave entrance was sealed shut. "We have to cross these wetlands to reach the second phase. It's home to many bizarre creatures and animals, who prey on humans. If you get fooled by them, you're dead. They will try any means necessary. It's an ecosystem built on deceit. Stick very close to me so you won't be fooled."

Leorio appeared skeptical. "How can they trick us if we know what they really want to do?"

"Don't listen to him!" The examinees whipped around as an injured man limped from behind the corner of the cave's entrance. His eye was swollen shut and blood streamed from several cuts. His breathing was ragged and he appeared to be burdened by luggage on his back. "He's lying!" He exclaimed. "He's not really the examiner! I am!" Murmuring erupted from the crowd. "He's a beast that lives here in the swamp!" He glared fiercely at Satotz. "He only wants to lure you into his nest so he can devour you! Don't follow him! You'll die!" He yanked out a monkey. A dead monkey that had pink hair flipping out on the ends. "This is what he really looks like!" the newcomer insisted. "He's a Man-faced ape; one of the beast that dwell here in the Numere wetlands. They love the taste of fresh human meat." His tone darkened at such vile suggestions. "However, their limbs are incredibly weak. So, they disguise themselves as human to lure people into their home. He plans to devour each and every one of you!" The man spat at Satotz.

"Bastard!" Leorio bared his teeth. Riven sighed. Obviously, Leorio answered his own question.

She could have been fooled as well, but logically, Satotz would never have warned them about the beasts in the first place. He would have simply lead them back into his home, without any of the applicants worrying about who to trust. And the accuser had said they had weak limbs; if that were the case, how had Satotz outrun all the examinees? He certainly hadn't broken a sweat.

Faster than Riven could see, the man collapsed. With a knot in her stomach, she saw two playing cards embedded in his chest. Blood seeped into the frozen earth. The supposedly dead monkey blinked in surprise. It leapt to its feet and scurried off. Murmuring of shock erupted from the other applicants.

Satotz also had two cards in his hands.

"Well," Hisoka mocked, "that settles it. You're the real one," he looked at the still-standing man. "Examiners are all Hunter's from the Hunter Committee. They should be able to stop a weak attack such as that." He shuffled his deck while Satotz tossed his cards to the side.

"I will take that as a compliment. However, if you attack me again, no matter the reason, I will report you for turning on an examiner and you'll be disqualified from the examination. Are we clear?"

The jester smirked. "Sure."

Karasu finally woke up a few minutes after the running resumed. Riven felt him stir, so she tried to casually pull away from the group. She released the drowsy bird from her jacket and urged him to take to the sky quickly so the no one noticed him.

Her kulning song echoed eerily, but Karasu would obey. Follow. High. She trusted Karasu to take care of himself, but she called the high kulning until he was well above the fog.

She almost laughed when unseen creatures, magical trickster beasts no doubt, copied her song, playing it around her head. They may have been able to copy the sound, but they couldn't copy her scent. And when she was sweating this heavily, Karasu would know exactly where she was, fog or not.

It didn't take very long for the aching in her side to return. She tried to focus on a some men in front of her, but the fog just seemed to grow thicker. Soon all that she saw were silhouettes. She began to fret. After she saw what the beasts were capable of, she didn't know if she could see through all of their tricks.

Her heart froze when she heard a cry from the sky. Something fell, fluttering violently and disturbing the fog in front of her. She dashed for her bird before he hit the ground but couldn't catch him. Karasu's left wing was broken. He cawed out to her pleadingly, in pain, rolling in the grass. She was at his side in seconds, pressing on his torso softly and yet as firmly as she could to still him and prevent further injury. And to see what exactly was wrong.

"Kid, what-?" Her eyes widened. As fast as she could, she drew her knife from her boot, plunging it into the bird's heart. It was dead in seconds, its wings twitching.

Another magical beast that could alter its appearance. But it obviously hadn't looked too closely at Karasu. It sounded like him, was the same size, had the same wingspan. But the beast had taken the shape of a white dove, not a white raven. She wondered what it could have done to her if she hadn't realized it was a fake when she did.

She was completely separated from the group now. Once again, she cupped her hand around her lips to sing a call. During the encounter of the Kiriko in the woods, Karasu had recognized Kurapika's name and scent when she commanded her bird to keep tabs on him. She'd assigned the blond his own tune at that time, a series of notes, that Karasu would recognize as his name. Karasu cawed in reply. It sounded distant, which meant he was well above the fog. And he was king in the sky. Nothing would attack him. He could see and sense all. He took off, swerving left and cawing so she could hear him. This time, Riven followed her bird.

Again, she just made it to cover as the guard fired his gun. She pressed her back onto the other wall of the furnace, her chest heaving, fighting for air and life. It was warm. She tried not to think about what happening inside of it.

Her distraction was the new buzzing under her skin. It seemed to burn off her skin, rising into the air so she could breath it back in.

She saw white in the corner of her eye. One of the woman. An orderly. Her brain hummed. They chose women, not soldiers, to fetch the children because they wanted to avoid a panic. And for years, they were taking the kids who were never adopted here. To this camp. This prison. How many had they put into the furnace? Or was this a special occasion, since Diana was dead?

The orderly lunged for her, skillfully wielding a dagger. Riven's knees were already unstable, so she could not explain how she was able to duck and dash as she did. It was pure instinct, pure adrenaline. Sloppy and scary and unbalanced.

The camp was in chaos, shouting and gunshots sounding from all directions. Another guard, overseeing the line of workers, knelt and aimed at her again. She had strayed too far from the furnace, and cover was too far away. She looked past the guard at the workers. They were probably from the dark place, maybe the villages next to it. There were dozens of them, they could easily stop him, maybe even break free from the camp themselves if they all worked together. They watched him take aim with blank faces.

Instincts took over again. Riven ran right for him. Time slowed. He squeezed, she broke to her right. A hand brushed for her hair. Her knees hit the dirt and she pushed back, then up. The orderly tripped over her, having chased her down. Now she laid spread-eagle, red blooming from her chest, staining her white uniform. Riven didn't wait, pushing up and heading straight for the marksman again. He dropped his gun to his hip, out of ammo, reaching for his sheath, but Riven was already on top of him, leaping and landing on his head.

She used to wrestle and grapple with the older boys in her neighborhood, but she had never really been aggressive or violent. Yet she barreled right into him without second thought, stomping on his face. He shouted out. She moved on, running behind the workers. They didn't help her, but maybe they would at least not actively try to turn her in. She infiltrated their line, slipping through awkwardly. But the other guards and orderlies she passed were focused on the kids making mad dashes between the buildings. She saw more bodies along the way, but she didn't bother to count them. She knew how many. She saw their faces each time she blinked.

Survive. It was the only thing on her mind as she neared the gate. Her legs itched to run. But that would get her only a bullet.

It was only when she saw a bob of dark hair did she remember what her actual goal should have been.

Her sisters. Senette had gotten as far as she could but bunkered down and hid when she saw that the guards were most concentrated around the gate. Bodies laid at their feet. Riven came up behind them. Sennette hiccupped but Riven shushed her. To make it this far just to have her crying sister expose her. Rene was awake and wide-eyed, trembling, but thankfully recognized that she had to be silent.

Riven had two ideas. The first was to find another way out. Maybe make her own opening. But there was no reason to think she could do it in a reasonable amount of time, with no tools. Climbing the fence wasn't an option; even if they managed to reach the top without being shot down, the barbed wire was angled over the inside of the camp. She would die of blood loss, maybe spear herself and be stuck there forever. Nevermind getting Senetter and Rene over.

Then she thought, she would have to be brazen. Use what she knew she had. The wires, she thought. If she could connect the circuit, she would have a weapon of her own. Not a gun. Or protection from a gun. But something. She grabbed her sister's hand and pushed back into the line of workers. It was painful, redoing all of her work, getting as far as she had. But going back made her realize just how short the distance actually was.

But. The remaining guards and orderlies had left the furnace behind. Since every other escapee was trying to get away from it. Other than the sizes of the blood pools, and the black smoke billowing from the chimney, nothing had changed. The torches and wires were left unattended. She left Rene and Senette in the line, making a break for them. They were light, since the orderlies had to carry them and walk for miles. She rolled them up, slipping behind a worker's bunker. When she connected the two end torches, they buzzed to life. She rolled them under her arm after disconnecting them again. She wasn't used to being lucky.

Now she needed numbers. Making their way up toward the gate again, Riven bit her lip nervously. Any second, she expected a guard to spot her or her sister's trailing behind her. She didn't see any other escapees. Either there were none left or some had managed to find decent hiding spots.

"Look," Sennette whispered. Riven caught the face of a boy receding in the shadows, hiding in a worker's bunker. Senette pulled her back behind a corner as two guards marched by, searching. She took that to mean there was a good number of kids still out there, alive.

"Good job, kid." Riven and her sister made a break for the bunker across the camp. They just made it as another guard turned down the corner. Once inside, the other children were easy to see under the wooden beds and dressers. There were seven others. More than she was expecting. A boy moved to block her entry, maybe throw her and her sisters into the guard. But Riven glared. A threat to squeal on them. He stepped back.

She waited for the guard to turn down the other side, watching him through a crack in the wooden walls. "They'll be checking among the workers soon. We can't stay in here."

"It's not any better to go out into the open. They're mowing us down, left and right." It was a boy with dirty blond hair, under the bed.

Riven looked at each of them, hard. "So the only option is to fight." She could tell they didn't even consider her proclamation. "Here."

The blond boy crawled closer as she held out the poles. "Sticks against guns?"]

"That's not quite what I had in mind."

AN: Something I noticed about Riven is that, when she has her sisters on her mind, she puts herself in harm's way. But no matter how hard she fights, her instincts take over and prioritize her own survival, and she often forgets about her sisters. And strangers have no chance.

Anyway, so I realize that this is sort of following the original Hunter X Hunter plot really closely, despite having a new character added. I promise that, as the story progresses, that I'll branch off a little more and add more with Riven and such. Or I'll try. Thank you for reading! I know this story is not perfect.