-- 23 years later --
Dandelion peers around the corner, raises her basket tighter to her face, and tries to remain calm as she walks by a group of teenagers in the middle of the bustling street of Meteor City. Today is market day, and Auntie Beryl sent Dandelion out with three instructions.
Buy the freshest cabbages. Don't talk to strangers. Stay away from the Tigers.
Despite those warnings, Dandelion couldn't resist the magnetic force that pulled her closer to the group of three youths. Two boys, both lanky and blonde and a girl, short but sweet looking, gathered around a chipped wooden bowl filled with the last of their drinking water. The girl fumbles in her pocket and draws out a yellow-tinged leaf with a smirk.
"Woah! How did you get that?" The first boys ask. A fresh leaf from a real tree remained a commodity in Meteor City; nothing grew here but loneliness and despair.
The girl shook her finger at him. "My uncle came back the other day. He passed something called the "Hunter's Exam", and we're moving out next week. He taught me all about nen yesterday," her face widens into a grin.
"What is 'Nen'?" The first boy asks and peers closer at the leaf that sways in the dusty breeze. The girl giggles and places the leaf into the bowl. She concentrates the way her Uncle showed her yesterday, and her nen flows into the bowl. The leaf stutters for a moment before moving in a circular pattern.
"See how it's moving in the water? That means that I'm a manipulator. I... I just have to figure out what exactly I manipulate," she chuckles.
"Woah... cool!" The boys exclaim. They share a look with one another and dive at the bowl, eager to be the next one to unlock their powers. They trip over each other, legs knock into feet, arms collide with faces, and the bowl splatter to the dirt.
Dandelion gasps and the group looks up at the noise.
"Hey, isn't that..." the girl mutters.
"Shit, you're right. Come on, let's go before Beryl sees us!"
The group run off and disappear within moments, lost in the maze of abandoned buildings and shattered stones.
Dandelion frowns. She used to be friends with them, back when Beryl felt safe to let Dandelion out in the evenings. Before the Tigers came out at dusk and assaulted civilians. Not that there still lived many civilians in Meteor City. Everyone she knew moved away. They found better jobs, a long lost rich aunt, or passed the 'Hunter's Exam'.
Beryl forbade Dandelion from entering the Hunter's Exam. She didn't even teach Dandelion the basics of nen.
"A lady doesn't need such things. All your battles should be fought with words and poise." Beryl said when Dandelion held up a leaf, smiling with a toothy seven-year-old grin.
Even so, Dandelion understood Nen, at least, she knew she possessed it. She felt the streams of energy flow through her energy since she could walk. She liked the way it tickled her insides and made her feel warm. She vowed that one day, she would figure out how to discover her 'Nen type' as well. It couldn't, possibly, as Beryl said, be the "poetic literature" type.
Dandelion clutches the hems of her skirt, a home-made piece by Beryl from a hand-me-down curtain, and crosses the street. She follows the street of stones, empty cans, and half smoked cigarettes to the fresh produce.
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RUIN | Hisoka Fan Fiction
Fanfic[ -- work in progress, updates either biweekly or weekly --] In the depths of the ruins of Meteor City, a flower blooms. Quiet and peaceful in her ruin of cobble and stone, Beryl raised Dandelion for the genteel lifestyle, after all, she wanted a l...
