The Darkness Within - Hunter X Hunter Fanfiction

Time x To x Fly

"...Chairman Netero."

"Well, I work behind the scenes," Chairman Netero replies smoothly. "I only take action when there's an issue, like now. So, Menchi-kun, you failed all of the applicants..."

He keeps talking but I'm not paying attention to what he's saying. I'm more focused on how he's looking at her breasts. Pig. Sometime when I'm looking at Netero in disgust, Menchi announces a new challenge (called it!) - boiled eggs.

The Chairman takes us to Mt. Split-In-Half in his airship, and Menchi further explains the new phase. Basically, we have to jump down into this huge canyon thing and grab a Spider Eagle egg, then come back up and boil it. This will be a lot easier than the last challenge, probably, at least for the people that are more physical than technical.

Hi.

Menchi, much to the surprise of everyone, jumps down without a second thought. She grabs onto one of the strands of the web and just hangs there. Suddenly, she legs go, and almost everyone gasps. Menchi quickly snatches one of the eggs, but continues to fall until she is out of our sight. Then, a strong updraft starts blowing, and Menchi flies right out with it, holding the egg.

Most of everybody is too terrified at the notion of risking their lives like that. I don't know why they signed up for this exam if they thought it wouldn't be life-threatening.

A lot of people just rush to jump down, though. Is everyone such an idiot?! I think furiously. The web will break! I don't go with them, but I watch at the edge. Killua and Gon are down there, and I care about them, despite the short time we've known each other.

One guy is stupid, even more so than the rest, and just jumps down instead of waiting for the updraft . I can hear Leorio - he wants to go, but Gon stops him. Phew.

The web starts to snap. Some people drop, not willing to wait. Finally, Gon shouts, "Now!" and they all let go. It's only moments before they are all brought back up by the gust of wind.

"Yay!" Gon yells directly into my ear without meaning to. Then, he sees that I don't have an egg. "Mira!" He says loudly, bringing everybody's attention to us. "You didn't go down! That means you fail!"

"Not yet," I say with a grim look on my face. "It's not over yet."

I look into the chasm, and almost all of the webs have broken off and fallen down. There is definitely not enough to support me and my fall. I quickly think in my head. Netero is saying some nonsense about it being courageous to concede, too. Psh. I don't do 'quit'. I just do 'make more interesting'. Remember what I was saying about pushing myself to my limit?

I can here Menchi coming up behind me. "There's no way you can go now." She says, a smug look in her eye. Well, I was really rude back there.

"I'm sorry for being rude," I say sincerely, even though it screws with my assumed personality. "I really didn't mean any of the things that I said. I've never cooked before and I knew I would fail, I just really didn't want to. I knew you wouldn't like our group, and you look like the sort of person that gets mad easily when disrespected. The only way I could have made it here is by pushing you over the edge for their bad cooking, which was inevitable since they wouldn't take the challenge seriously, and their disrespect. I figured that you would get mad and fail all of us, and someone would have to step in and make you re-do the challenge. So I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Menchi looks surprised. "Hey, it's okay. You were able to predict all of that?"

I shrug. "People are predictable."

The Chairman, who was not-so-discreetly listening in on my apology, walked over. "What's your name?" He asks, addressing me.

"Mira." I say. "And apologies are private, you know. At least do a better job of hiding yourself."

I think I see a glimmer of surprise in his eye, but it is gone so quickly that it is more likely that I imagined it. "I hope to see you next year," he says with a small smile.

"Oh, it's not over yet." I mumble, looking back towards the chasm.

"Don't do anything stupid," Menchi tells me.

"Me, stupid?" I reply. "Never." I look at them, grinning widely. "I just make it more interesting."

With that, I start running at almost full speed towards the gap. Man, if I didn't time this right, this is gonna hurt...

I count my steps as I run forward, and I can feel people's eyes digging into my neck as they scream for me to stop. "Don't get cocky," Killua yells, and I smile even more. Too late.

I mean, I've been forced to do worse. For the sake of trying something new, I won't even use my powers.

At the very edge, I leap into the air, making sure to keep my stomach tight and my shoulders back. I count the second in my head, until... BAM! I hit the wall on the other side, not having jumped far enough to have made it all the way across, and roll, effortlessly positioning myself to bounce back. I push as hard as I can, leaping through the air once more to snatch one of the few remaining eggs hanging by the thread of web. I successfully grab it and hold on tightly. I'm still hurtling towards the other wall, and I position myself to brace for impact.

This is where it comes down to timing. If I didn't time this right, the updraft will not give me enough momentum and I will fall to my death, which would be really embarrassing. Like, seriously, dying while trying to do something cool is not the way I want to go.

I hit the wall and start running, which is a lot harder than it sounds. One, I'm holding a giant egg, and two, it's vertical. So, yeah.

I can feel myself start to fall, and I pray that I timed it right. I can feel the wind turning. Everyone is leaning over the edge, looking terrified. I ignore them, focusing on the wind. Sure enough, the current comes right on time, pushing me up with enough force to keep me running on the wall. Vertically.

Within moments, I'm back on flat ground. Everyone is looking at me in shock - I don't think what I just did has fully registered with anyone. Even Netero seems surprised. Gon and Killua look like they both had heart attacks.

"So!" I yell loudly, effectively snapping people out of whatever trance they were in. "Who's ready to eat some unborn babies?"