The second she lost sight of her friends, Riven regretted splitting up. She reached out to grab ahold of the trap door, but it had already flipped shut and sealed behind her. She landed in a crouched position, startling Karasu into flight. He burst from her jacket and squawked, making Riven sigh. If there had been enemies or monsters there waiting for her, in trap, they would have instantly been aware of her arrival.

As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she saw with an indescribable joy that that wasn't the case. Her spirits soared.

Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio, her very first friends, had landed right next to her, and she couldn't have been gladder to see them. Even Killua's familiar white hair comforted her. Riven grinned widely, something that felt uncharacteristic, but she didn't care.

"That was a brief farewell," Kurapika joked, nearly laughing. Gon seemed excited as well, high-fiving Killua, and even Leorio seemed content.

They found themselves in a small, square, gray room, constructed of brick. The lack of color left a nagging feeling in Riven's gut, reminding her of home.

"No wonder those doors were right next to each other," she breathed. "They all lead to the same room." For the first time, she noticed a silver podium on the far wall, a framed plaque just above it. She got to her feet, the others following her, to examine it. The podium presented six, fancy bands, each with two buttons. They looked like expensive… Riven tried to think of the word, sure that she knew it.

"Watches?" Leorio plucked one up, fastening it onto his wrist. Riven snapped her fingers, finally remembering with his help. He gave her a strange look, passing one to her. The Dark Place wasn't inhabited by anyone wealthy, by any means. While they had grandfather clocks and sundials, watchers were a luxury not commonly come by in public. She read the plaque.

'The six if you must follow the will of the majority to reach the goal.'

"There were six doors, and now six watches," Gon recalled, clipping on his own watch, its time reading 71 hours and nineteen minutes.

"Could it be that the doors to this room won't open until a six person arrives?" the blond figured.

"That is correct!" a male voice buzzed in, revealing an intercom that had gone unnoticed. The quintet whipped around, surprised. "My name is Lippo. I'm the prison warden here, as well as the Exam's third examiner."

"Prison?" Riven shivered, sharing a concerned glance with Kurapika. The Obelisk certainly didn't appear like an ordinary prison, but it probably wasn't ordinary at all. Still, the aspect of Prisoners was alarming. Lippo went on to explain how multiple paths had been prepared for them, and since they had chosen the path of majority rule, they would all have to cooperate if they wanted to make it to the bottom by the time seventy-one hours had passed. Frankly, Riven didn't see her group having any issues in that department, besides possibly from Leorio or Killua, whom she barely knew.

"Best of luck!" Lippo chimed. The intercom cackled and went dead. Riven instantly disliked him, comparing his involvedness with the friendly Satotz and the passionate Menchi.

"What should we do now?" Leorio wondered, looking lost.

"I guess we wait."

The minutes dragged by so slowly that they felt like hours. Even when she watched Gon test out that yellow skateboard she remembered seeing Killua with, and the latter boy flicking Gon's fishing pole, she was not entertained. She whistled a tune, Karasu quickly recognizing it and attempting to whistle along. He was flat at most times, sharp occasionally, but it resembled the song closely enough. At least he was getting some good exercise, flying about freely. Riven had begun to miss being able to play with him, since he had been holed up for so long under her arm. It was a large relief to not worry about his weight, and she could move fluidly now.

She was only aware that nearly two hours had passed because of the watch on her wrist. It continually counted down, cruelly reminding them of their unfinished job they still couldn't finish.

"Oh, come on!" Leorio snapped, unable to ignore the tense atmosphere. The waiting must had gotten to his head, much like it almost had to Riven. "It's been two whole hours, and it's possible that all the others took different routes! Only a fool would still be up there!"

Kurapika tried to calm him.

"They may have built more doors than needed to trap groups like this," Riven stated unhelpfully, dumbfounding Leorio. "Or they had the right amount, and that fellow who was scaling the wall is the only one who hasn't taken a door, and it just so happens that our group is the incomplete one."

"I believe the examiners wouldn't add extra doors in case none of the groups are completed, and no one would pass, like in the second phase. If they wanted to eradicate a controlled number of applicants, they would probably just create less doors," Kurapika theorized. Riven thought about it a moment, and then nodded. That would be the safest way to ensure some people passed.

"Well, I can't just keep sitting here!" Leorio continued to rant.

A scuffling from above alerted Riven, and she tensed, shushing the brunet and preparing to stuff Karasu in her jacket. He wasn't happy, if the pecks on her hands told her anything, but she managed to conceal him like before in five seconds flat. The quintet stared upwards as one of the tiles began to flip.

A boulder of blue fell from the hole, a sickening thud sounding as it landed. Tonpa rolled over on his bellying and difficultly rose to his feet, dusting off his pants.

"Jeez!" he breathed.

"Oh," Riven sighed in disappointment, Kurapika, Leorio, and Killua reflecting her own facial expression. Gon, however, greeted him like an old friend.

They fastened the last watch on his tan, hairy, thick wrist, and in an instant, a section of the far wall peeled away. Behind the wall had a heavy duty door, with mechanical mechanisms on its surface. There was a screen at eye level, which told them to press 'O' to open and 'X' to not open. Riven flicked her gaze at her watch, easily understanding what to do. She pressed 'O', and was astonished to find, after the results were revealed, that one 'X' had been selected. She instantly knew it was Tonpa, but as the door opened anyhow, she reminded herself that it didn't really matter what he picked. She kept repeating that so she wouldn't punch him. Leorio, however, wouldn't have any of that.

"How do you accidently press the wrong button!?" He cried in the old man's face. Gon had to be the peace-keeper once again, trying to soothe the brunet, even though Riven secretly wanted him to sock Tonpa. The group needed him to continue voting, but otherwise she would have done it herself.

"Even if he keeps pressing the wrong one," Killua droned, "the rest of us just have to press the right one."

Kurapika nodded. "Just be careful not to pick evenly, three to three. I'm worried that will mean the door won't open."

"Wouldn't it be more accurate to re-set the devices?" Riven wondered. "If the door doesn't open, then that would be using the option that didn't have majority."

"Unless opening the door isn't what we'll always be voting on," Killua chimed in. Riven saw his point, suddenly becoming weary. She wished she could know just how difficult the questions were going to become. They all slid through the door and kept going, immediately coming across another screen, this one on the wall. On their left and right were bars, acting as doors. Cautiously, Riven hovered her finger over her options. Killua had been right, as had Kurapika. If they chose three-three, neither door would open.

'O' for right, 'X' for left. All she could do was guess and hope for the desired results. She selected right, no real reason behind it. The answers flickered onto the screen. Four rights had been selected and two had chosen X. That was as close as they could afford to get, and it seemed like such a big jump.

"What?!" Leorio exclaimed. "Why not left?"

"Why not right?" Riven shrugged. The man glared at her over his shades, as if to say, 'no one asked you!' Which had sort of had, but not directly.

"There has been a study that suggests a human will unconsciously tend to go left if met with a fork in the road," the blond allowed Leorio that small piece of advantage.

"I've heard that, too," Killua said, surprising Riven with how talkative he was being. Leorio gaped at them, flicking back to the screen.

"Then these numbers don't add up. What did you choose?"

"Right," said Kurapika, walking past Leorio and through the open door.

"Right," said Killua boredly, following. Riven wordlessly imitated them, catching a small bit of Tonpa's speech, which stated that the left would have been the most dangerous. Riven saw the logic, but found it rather childish and incomplete, though she said nothing. The examiner could have also figured they would choose right in an attempt to outsmart him. It was like a never ending cycle, one so complex that thinking about it too hard would be harmful. Guessing was their best shot.

"What is this place?" Leorio wondered? The group had turned a corner, only to find that the hall dropped off into a pit. Riven examined the wall, noting how smooth and unclimbable they were, and glances at the square platform in the center or the pit. There were torches in each corner, their only source of light, but their glow did not reach far enough to bathe the bottom of the pit. Thinking back to the size of the tower, Riven wondered whether it went all the way to the base. Either way, falling would mean certain death. All the way on the other side of the pit, their path continued.

Five robed shadows each different in size and shape, told her they were not the only ones there. Their shackles clanged to the floor as they removed them, telling Riven who they were; prisoners. Karasu stirred against her. One of the prisoners slung off his cloak, revealing a tan, bald, scarred man with ridiculous muscles. He stepped forward, into the casted light. He grinned at them evilly.

"Allow me to explain," the intercom sounded again, Lippo's voice echoing. Riven didn't see the device anywhere, and wondered why they took the time to hide it. She figured it was on the screen that sat on the square platform, which wasn't very noticeable.

The prisoners had officially been hired by the Hunter Committee as examiners, making Riven scowl. If they were fighting for freedom, freedom of any sort, they would be merciless. Actually, since they probably wouldn't have hired lenient men, they wouldn't have been merciful anyways. Riven felt like she was the only one who saw how dire their situation seemed to be, except for maybe Leorio. Fighting was not her strong suit, although she was prepared to do so. You didn't go to the Hunter Exam and expect not to fight.

"The fights will be one-on-one, and each of you may only fight once."

"Majority rule, yes?" Riven asked no one in particular. No one answered, but they didn't need to. Riven glanced at the screen, slightly uneasy. Still, it seemed, a three-three result would be the same as a loss.

Of course, Riven was ninety-eight percent against Tonpa going to fight first. As 'valiant' as his effort seemed, she doubted he could ever lay a finger on the first prisoner. She probably wouldn't win herself, but she'd managed for at least a few minutes. The stubborn two percent kept saying that her actual friends wouldn't be able to win either. She was slightly relieved when none of them had to go out onto the square platform. Thinking about an injured Gon, a bleeding Kurapika, an unrepairable Leorio… Even a dead Killua made her heart ache and her hands go numb.

She watched intently as Tonpa's match began, the prisoner rapidly approaching the man with a menacing look. Tonpa didn't look scared, though he wasn't necessarily calm. Then the prisoner was on him, about to do the unspeakable. Riven paled when she saw he was aiming for his head.

"I give up!"

Now… Thinking about an injured, bleeding, unrepairable Tonpa… That was satisfying.

Riven hadn't planned on stopping Leorio's fury when the large, square-like man finally returned to stand beside them. Karasu sensed her unadulterated anger, squirming like a worm. He desperately wanted to peck at Tonpa's eyes, she assumed. If she hadn't been hoping to keep his presence a secret for her advantage, she would have let him.

#Ethan Strong