The Darkness Within - Hunter X Hunter Fanfiction

Just x Keep x Running

It's a voice that wakes me. I groggily open my eyes and look towards the man talking. He's saying something about phases and eliminations. I have trouble listening, too focused on his purple hair and lack of a mouth.

I've never seen anyone speak without a mouth, and I've seen quite a lot. It's fascinating.

Then, as I'm fixated on his still face, he turns in the opposite directions and begins jogging. Everyone follows him, so I do too.

A few minutes pass, and I already feel slightly winded. 'This is what I get for not exercising,' I tell myself. 'Doofus.'

Multiple people fall behind, or collapse to the floor panting. Everyone ignores them, so I assume that's what the 'elimination' was about. This seems to be like one of the routine tests at Asylum. You do what they tell you to do, you never know what's coming next, and if you fail, you're punished.

Hopefully they won't be punished, because that stuff hurts.

I slow my pace a little, making sure to breathe evenly. I've passed these before, I can do it again.

A silver-haired boy passes me, riding a skateboard. Someone yells at him for cheating. I keep my gaze lowered to the ground. 'Don't interfere, Mira,' I tell myself sternly and continue to focus on my breathing. I'm getting warmed up and the tiredness is slowly seeping out of me, replaced by the thrumming of excitement in my blood.

Another boy steps in to argue with the guy who yelled. 'What are up with all of these boys?' I think. 'Where are the girls? Am I the only one? That would suck.'

The guy stops yelling. I decide to jog over to the silver-haired boy, who has now jumped off his skateboard and is running with the rest of us. The boy who defended him sees me and immediately introduces himself.

"Hi, I'm Gon," He says. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen," I mutter. "Why?"

He ignores my question, responding with, "Oh, you're around the same age as Kil and I!" He gestures to the silver-haired boy. "We're both twelve. Come on, meet my friends!"

"Uh, sure...?" I'm not sure how to respond. I've never had someone be this nice to me right off the bat. It's a little disconcerting, but I don't get a bad feeling, so I go with it.

He leads me over to a small group of people around the middle of the pack of contestants. "That's Killua," Gon says, pointing to the silver-haired boy, "Kurapika," a boy with a strange outfit and long hair, "and Leorio," a guy who looks old but gives off a teenager-y vibe.

I wave. "Hi. I'm Mira."

"Great! Now we can all be friends!" Gon yells, and I can't help but wince. "Why are you in the Hunter's Exam, Mira?"

"Um, funny story... but first, would you mind telling me what this exam is for?"

All four of them gave me a strange look.

"So you can get a Hunter's License?" Leorio half-says half-asks.

"...What's that?"

Kurapika is the one who replies. "You can become a Hunter or sell them. You can access the Hunter website, and you can bypass certain laws."

"Oh."

"How did you get here, then?" Killua asks me warily.

"I bumped into weird magician dude, and he brought me here."

"Y-you know Hisoka?" Gon asks, looking at me in awe.

"Not really, the first time I saw him was today. I was wandering around with nothing to do, I saw him, we talked, we walked in together, and we'll probably never talk again."