Y/N POV

"What do you want?"

"Our deal, darling. Information for information." He brushes my hair behind my ear, and I feel squirmy and uncomfortable. I try to stand up straight. I look away from Hisoka, raising my eyebrows and trying to back away to express how uncomfortable I am.

"I never made a deal with you," I reply firmly. 

"Oh yes you did, my ripe fruit. Information on her, and I get to see your power." 

"I never made that." I release my card from Killua's neck and just shiver. Hisoka's still there. There's bloodlust coming from him. Killua notices and takes his card back. 

"Yes, you did, my little unripe fruit. In the tunnel. But you don't have to keep it . . . meet me if you do . . ."

Hisoka leaves, and I tremble for a second, before falling on the bench, head in my hands. 

Killua places a gentle hand on my shoulder. "I would punch you, but this isn't the time. What's wrong? What did he say?"

"He knows," I sob. "He knows." 

"Knows what? Y/N, you have to tell me so I can help you."

"Yeah. I just woke up though, so what are we talking about?" Gon asks. Killua fills him in on what happened.  "What is Hisoka talking about, Y/N?"

"Nothing. I'm going to go and meet him." I stand up.

Killua makes a face. "You can't do that. You're terrified of him, but you're going to go meet up with him on your own? At least take us with you."

"Yeah," Gon agrees. "Safety in numbers."

"Don't come after me," is all I say.

KILLUA POV

Y/N walks away. Once she turns the corner, I start shaking Gon. "Is she crazy?  She's gonna get hurt!" 

"Yeah, I know. But look at the time. We're gonna land in three . . . two . . . one!" The bell rang right then, and over the pa system, someone told us to get ready for phase three. "See? Now, Y/N can't go with Hisoka, and Hisoka can't go to Y/N, since they wouldn't want to miss phase three." 

"Moron!" I repeat. "You couldn't have told me this earlier?" 

"I didn't think you would listen til she left." Gon shrugs. 

"Please leave the aircraft," the man on the pa says. We do. 

"What is this place?" I mutter to myself.

Gon hears. "It's the top of a tower. I don't know how this is a test though. Maybe to get down?" 

I see the bean-shaped dude that gave us our badges for the exam. I'm about to ask him where we are, when he tells us that we are on top of a place called Trick Tower. It's the third phase. We must get to trick tower's base alive within 72 hours. 

"Now, the third phase starts. Good luck!" He boards the airship and leaves. 

Immediately, Gon goes to the edge. "Woah!"

"Are we supposed to climb down?" Leorio asks in disbelief after joining us. 

"That would be suicide," Kurapika answers, stopping next to the three of us.

"For a regular person," some man says. We turn around. This guy is smirking at us. He tells us that he's a rock climber and that he can climb down in no time. He starts, and we watch. 

"Wow," I say, looking down. 

"He's going down so fast," Gon notes. 

Suddenly, we hear lots of wings. We look everywhere and can't find the source, when an animal appears and eats up the guy. 

"HELP!" he screams. "HELP!" 

"Gu-guess we can't climb down the side," Leorio stutters. 

"Yeah."

I motion for Gon, and we start looking around for places to enter Trick Tower. I point out that there are many people gone, which means they must have found a way to leave the top. Then we figure out how to get through the tower. 

"Kurapika! Leorio!" Gon calls. We walk over to them, and Gon explains that we found five trapdoors. 

"If only Y/N was here," Kurapika thought out loud. 

Gon leads the way, and I take the back. We're going to the trapdoors when suddenly, I fall into one. "AHH," I scream, falling. 

I hit the floor on my butt. "Ow," I complain. I can hear someone on top, tapping the trapdoor I fell in. But apparently, once someone has gone in a trap door, another person can't. 

"Killua! Are you down there? Are you ok?" Gon calls. 

"Yeah!" I reply. "Go on! I'll meet you at the base of the tower!" 

"Ok!" 

I look around the room. There are two people in the shadows, talking to each other. 

"Hey," I shout. "Let's get going!" 

"Of course. After all, we only needed one more person." Shit. I would recognize that voice anywhere. Hisoka. But who's next to him? 

"Who's next to you?" I demand. 

The person walks out of the shadows.  Y/N. Something is different with her, though. My instincts have been sharpened throughout my childhood and I can feel that something is off.

Hisoka's behind me. "Like Y/N now, Killua?" 

"What did you do to her?" I exclaim, whipping around. 

"Nothing," she replies instead of him. She reaches into my pocket and whips out the card that she had given back to me. King of Hearts. "Keep this in front of you," she whispers in my ear, so Hisoka can't hear. "Keep it in your hand. Don't lose it." 

"Why?" 

"Trust me," is all she says, before she goes beside Hisoka. Retaining her cold tone, she instructs us to start out. 

The first sign asks us whether we want to go left or right.

"Right." 

"Right."

"Right."

We go right. The next sign asks us whether we want to go left or right again. We go left this time. 

It's a maze, I realise. We will never get another question.

This is now the thirtieth question. Left or right?

"Left." 

"Right." 

"Left." 

"Ok. Hisoka, you're going right. Killua, you're with me. We'll meet up again," Y/N commands.

"Ok, my fruit." 

Y/N whips her head to the right, but she doesn't look at Hisoka. "Don't call me that, Hisoka." Venom is dripping from her voice. 

"Of course, precious." 

"I told you not to call me that also." A card appears in her right hand. She throws it at Hisoka. He catches it, but not before it scrapes his chin. "Don't heal that Hisoka." 

"Of course," he cooes before turning right. "But it's not like I could," he says over his shoulder.

We go left. There's a wall at the end, and we decide to go right. There's another wall, and we go right again. The silence is overwhelming. 

I put my hands behind my head and continue to walk. "What happened, Y/N?"

She looks away as I glance at her. "I don't want to talk about it." 

"Why not?" 

"I just don't." She clutches her right arm to her body. 

"Ok." Attempting to lift her spirits, I yell, "Look! There's a door right there?" 

"Really?" Her head pops up. 

"Yeah! Right here." I put my hand in front of her face and she runs into it. 

"Killua!" she exclaims, looking at me. "That hurt! What was that for?"

I laugh and just run away. She scowls and chases me. I look behind me. And then run into a wall. 

Y/N just stops and gapes at me as I screech in pain. 

My thoughts are interrupted, though, when she starts laughing. She's laughing so hard, she falls to the floor and is just rolling around, clutching her stomach. 

"This is so dumb." 

"You just ran into a wall! Nobody does that!" she laughs, continuing to roll around.

"You can stop laughing now." I look down at her, the straightest look on my face. 

"I'm so, so sorry, Killua, but your face! It's so red!" 

"No need to remind me," I grumble.

Y/N POV

Killua watches me with a disgusted look on his face as I cry. His face looks so weird, and that just makes me laugh harder, more tears coming out. 

"Are you done yet, Y/N?" Killua asks. 

"No," I say with a straight face, looking over at him. He raises an eyebrow, his mouth twitching to show a relieved smile, when I burst out laughing again. 

"Stop it! This is embarrassing!" 

"Not to me."

Finally, I'm done. I get up from the floor and punch him playfully. 

"What was that for!" 

"That's for hitting me in the face with the 'door.'"

"Fine. But look there is a door."

"I'm not falling for that trick again, Killua." 

In response, Killua grabs my face and points it at the door. "Oh."

"Yeah, there is a door."

"Well, why are we waiting?" 

Killua opens the door and stops walking. I run into him. "Ouch. Why'd you stop?" 

"Look. And stay behind me." 

I peek out from behind Killua. I see Hisoka in a room with another person. There are red candles everywhere emitting a glow the opposite of red - green. 

"I've been waiting for you, Hisoka," the man facing Hisoka says confidently. His hair looks like a wolf's mane, and there are scars dragging down his face. "I'm not an examiner this year. I'm here for revenge." He stands up. "Since last year's exam, all I've focused on was killing you." He takes out two small scythes. "Today, I get revenge for my scars!" 

"You know," I comment. "He probably wakes up everyday dreaming of killing Hisoka." 

"We're in a dangerous situation, and that's what you want to say?"

"But he probably was," I note. Killua rolls his eyes. "See? You agree with me."

"You're annoying." 

"Rude." I let go of his shirt. He notices and steps back into my face. 

"My nose! And I just got surgery." 

"You did?" Killua questions, looking back at me in disbelief. 

"We're in a dangerous situation, and that's what you want to ask?" I mimic. 

"Yes. So did you get surgery?" 

"No. Trust when I say this nose is natural. Look at Hisoka and the other guy, though. Look what they're doing. I wanna do that." 

Killua looks at me skeptically. "You wanna behead a guy? I can teach you." 

I look at him. "What the fuck. No. I don't want to learn to behead a guy. And why can you? No, I want to learn how to do those blade things." 

Killua scratches the back of his neck, attempting to look innocent. "You're tweaking, I never said anything about knowing how to behead people."

"Ok," I nod, smiling at him in a way where he knew I was being sarcastic. 

"You can come out now, Y/N and Killua," Hisoka's voice penetrates through the now eery silence.

"You saw us?" I ask. 

"Yes. Now let's go." 

This time we go forward. 

Right. 

Left. 

Left. 

Right. 

But when we go right, there's a door. 

"Do you think that's the end?" 

"Hopefully," Killua replies. Hisoka just walks, his weird grin playing on his lips. 

Me and Killua race to the door and open it. 

"Gon?" Killua exclaims.

"Kurapika! Leorio!" I say. "Oh, and you. Tonpa." 

"Y/N," Kurapika says, nodding at me from the opposite wall.

"Killua!" Gon returns. "Whoa, you changed, Y/N. Hey! What's Hisoka doing with you?"

"Remember when I fell? Well, I fell into a room with these two so I'm stuck with Y/N and the clown. What about you guys? What's your task?" 

"Well, we have to fight five people. But we only have four. So we've been waiting for someone to come out that door to fight for us. If they choose, of course. We only need to win this fight and we can go on," Kurapika explains. 

"Well who is it?" I ask. 

"We don't know."

The guy takes off his hood and Leorio gasps. "That guy . . . we should take the loss." He explains who the guy is. "You don't have to face that psychotic killer! There's always next year for me, Gon, and Kurapika." He scoffs at Tonpa. "You fail every year." 

"Ooh, I'll do it!" I raise my hand, smiling brightly. Leorio looks at me as if I'm crazy. 

Killua grabs it and throws it down. "I'm going. No arguing." 

"What? Why? I can handle myself perfectly fine for your information, Killua!" 

"I said no arguing." 

I open my mouth but Killua's already walking away. I see him put a hand in his pocket and withdraw the card. He steps onto the main platform, and the bridge disappears.

Keep it in your hand, Killua. Keep it. Don't lose it, I beg to an unknown force. Leorio sees me and raises an eyebrow. I shake my head and he steps away. 

Killua puts the card back in his pocket and I sigh.

"So, how are we settling this contest?" Killua asks innocently. 

"Contest?" The blonde captive, who Leorio informed us is called Johness, asks. "I believe you are confused. This will be a one-sided massacre. I have no interest in the exam or any offer of amnesty. I just want to hear you scream."

"Oh damn," I say. "Sounds like Hisoka." 

Hisoka's mouth drops dramatically. "I don't sound like that." 

I nod sarcastically. "Yeah. Keep telling yourself that, buddy."

Killua shrugs nonchalantly as if he dealt with this stuff every day. "Really? Ok." He withdraws his hands from his pockets. "Then the loser is the one who dies."

Johness is taken aback by Killua's indifference. "Yeah, that's right. I'll tear your body apart!" He reaches a hand, his fingers twitching from the excitement of touching another human's flesh. Yuck. 

And then suddenly Killua's gone. It's as if he's disappeared. Johness's eyes open wide. When he turns around, I see Killua again. He's on the other side of Johness, who currently has a huge red gape where his heart should be. 

Johness clutches that space in his chest. "Wh-what? I'm so cold." 

Killua turns around, smiling devilishly. He's holding Johness's heart in his fingers. It beats rhythmically.  

"Th-that's mine. G-give it back." Johness reaches out for his heart, but it stops beating. He falls to the floor, arm still outstretched. Carefully, Killua puts his heart in Johness's hand and walks back over. 

"Who is he?" The words barely make it out from Leorio's mouth. 

"Oh, right. You don't know," Gon looks at us.

"Don't know what?" I ask. 

"Killua comes from an elite family of assassins." 

"An elite family of assassins??"

"I'm back," Killua says. Leorio backs up. "What?" 

"Uhh . . . well . . . good work!" Leorio stutters.

A door suddenly opens. We glance over. A man over a PA system declares that Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, and Tonpa gambled away 50 hours, and that they must spend it in that room, while me, Killua, and Hisoka may choose to stay with them or leave. 

"I'll be leaving now. Y/N, come with me," Hisoka orders. 

I beam up at him. "I'm ok. I think I'll stay with Kurapika and the others. What about you, Killua?" 

"I'll stay with them too." 

We walk over to the room while Hisoka takes the other exit. A few minutes later, we hear that Hisoka was the first person to cross the finish line and make it to the base of Trick Tower.

We walk into the room. The doors lock themselves and overhead, a timer starts. 

"We have to spend fifty hours in this room?" Leorio stalks over to a couch and sits down. 

I go over to the coffee table and sit down. Kurapika turns to Killua. "Hey, Killua."

"Eh?"

"Can you tell me how that technique works?"

"Technique?"

"The one you used to instantly remove his heart." 

"Oh, that wasn't a technique. I just ripped it out." 

"Ripped it out?" Kurapika looks confused. 

"But to make it easier," Killua raises his hand. "I manipulated my body a little." His nails turn into claws. Everyone gasps except for me. He sees that I don't and smirks, remembering that I had already seen this. "Mass murderers are still amateurs. I used to be a professional. But my old man would've done better. When he removes a heart, you won't even see a drop of blood."

"H-how reassuring," Leorio stutters. 

"Well, then, we should search the room for any entertainment," Killua proposes, changing the subject.

"Yeah!" Gon races to the other side.

"Wait for me!" I dart over to him. 

Killua starts the tv while me and Gon search the bookshelves. 

"Aww man! This is so sick!" I  cry out. "Look! It's manga! Boku no Hero Academia!" 

"Ooh! I've heard of that series!" Killua snatches the book from my hands and starts examining it. I snatch it right back.

"Mine," I hiss. That starts a game of tag. By the time we're finished, we've only used up one hour. 

"Sooo lonnnnnnnng," Gon complains. I giggle. 

Later, Killua shows us how to use his skateboard. He demonstrates a trick, saying, "If you hesitate on the first step, you'll get hurt." 

"Got it." We try, and I almost hit my head on the table.

"You have to be dumb. Didn't you hear what I said, Y/N?" Killua helps me up. 

"Yeah, but not everyone's perfect," I scoff. 

"I got it my first try," Killua points out.

"Ok, ok. So you're perfect." A pink tint seep onto his cheeks. 

"Let me try!" Gon tries, and it slips out from under his feet and across the room, embedding itself in the wall. One inch over and it would've embedded itself in the old man's head. Leorio would look good with a skateboard crown, though.

"Hey!" Leorio screams. "What are you doing!" 

"Oops. Sorry about that." Gon scratches the back of his neck. 

"Don't skateboard inside this tiny room!"

"Awwww!" 

"Party pooper," I whisper to them. They cover up their laughs enough that Leorio only shoots us a small death glare. 

"Well, I'll show you my fishing pole," Gon proposes.

"Yeah! And then I can show you my roller skates after!" I shout excitedly once Gon's finishes speaking.

We go to sleep after though. Killua, me, and Gon lay on the couch in that order. Gon passes out in no time, but me and Killua stay up. 

"Forty hours left," I say. 

"Yeah. We went to bed with around fifty hours left." 

"That's a long time." 

Kurapika shifts, opening his eyes. Killua looks at him and I beam. He stifles a chuckle. "Can't sleep?" 

"That's not it," Killua replies. "I can go two to three days without sleep."

I hit him with a pillow. "You never told me that." 

He sticks his tongue out at me. "Well, you never asked."

"So? I thought we were friends!" 

"Friends?" he asks sarcastically.

"Do you not want to be friends?" I snark.

"Nah, we're friends."

"Good. Anyways, tell me - how is it being a Zoldyck?"