ɪ'ᴍ ʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʟɪᴛᴇʀᴀʟʟʏ ғᴀʟʟ ɪɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴠᴀʟᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ'ᴍ ᴊᴜsᴛ sɪᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ O.O

ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏғ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀs ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴄ ᴏғ sᴛᴏʀɪᴇs, ʙᴜᴛ ɪ'ᴍ ɢʟᴀᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴠᴀʟᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ!

(ɪ ғᴇᴇʟ ʟɪᴋᴇ sᴏᴍᴇ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ғɪɢʜᴛ ᴋɪʟʟᴜᴀ ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜᴇʀ ʟᴍғᴀᴏ)

ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ ɪᴛ ᴅᴏᴇs ɢᴇᴛ ᴀɴɴᴏʏɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴏᴍᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴘᴍ ᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀsᴋ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ ʜᴇʀ ғᴀᴄᴇ ᴄʟᴀɪᴍ -.-

ɪ sᴛɪʟʟ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ!

ᴀʟsᴏ, ɪ ᴊᴜsᴛ ғᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇɢɪɴɴɪɴɢ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴍᴇ ʜᴀs ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴀᴄᴛᴏʀ ᴀs ᴇʟᴀɪɴᴇ, sᴏ ᴠᴀʟᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ᴍᴜsᴛ ᴊᴜsᴛ ʙᴇ sɪᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪs ᴀs sʜᴇ's ʜᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ ʜᴇʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ;
👁👄👁

༺♥༻

༺♥༻

Sitting next to Killua, the young blonde was currently messing around with her daggers once more and continued to do the tricks she had done before, not realizing that a certain pair of icy eyes were looking her way. Watching as she expertly twirled the daggers in her hands; passing them between each fingers so quick that the weapons looked like a blur, before throwing them into the air slightly, catching them and continuing the pattern.

Blinking in shock, the icy eyed boy continued to watch for a moment and leaned his chin against his hand, watching as Valentine stared off as she did this, causing him to raise an eyebrow, before realizing.

Right.

She was a contract killer before all of this, so of course she could do something as simple as that.

Even though she didn't notice, Valentine had caught the attention of the silverette beside her and the hawk that rested atop of her shoulder, beady black eyes staring at her hands; watching the daggers closely.

Hearing a loud explosion, Valentine snapped out of her daze and caught the hilt of the daggers in her hands, looking towards the door with wide eyes as the room had shaken from the immense power.

As the door slowly creaked opened, the two watched as Gon peeked his head out and spotting the two of them, chocolate brown eyes brightened as he straightened up, walking towards them with a bright smile on his face.

'Killua! Valentine! Zeus!'

Perking up at the acknowledgment, Zeus stretched out his left wing; keeping the other down as to not hit the blonde in the face, and let out a screech, flapping his left wing slightly.

Almost like he was trying to wave.

'That's awesome!',Gon exclaimed and walked up the stairs towards them,'So, you guys got chosen too, huh?'

'Of course we did',Killua stated with a small on his face,'That big sound was you, wasn't it?'

With a nod, a smile formed on Gon's face and agreed, before looking towards Valentine.

'Oh, by the way Valentine, I saw the holes you left in the wall!',Gon exclaimed and his eyes glistened as his smile was so bright that Valentine smiled with him,'It was so cool!'

Blinking in surprise, Killua turned his head in her direction and had an impressed look on his face, with a small smile gracing his lips.

As Tsezgerra walked into the room, everyone sat down and Valentine was currently sitting between both Gon and Killua, with Zeus looking around the room with a curious chirp as he was perched atop of her shoulder.

'Allow me to be the first to congratulate you, the twenty-one people still here have earned the right to play Greed Island. You will receive fifty billion Jenny upon clearing the game; all of the details are there in the contract'

Reading the small packet in her hand, Valentine leaned back in her seat and hummed slightly, her eyes slowly read over the text on the sheets of paper.

'So be sure to read it throughly and sign it before you leave here at five p.m.',Tsezgerra stated and looked at everyone in the room, his eyes sweeping over each and every one of them.

༺♥༻

Sitting in a restaurant with Leorio, the five had come there to celebrate their success with the screening and Valentine was sitting beside the teenager while Killua and Gon sat beside one another; with Zeus standing on the table, eating the food Leorio had gotten for him.

The man was going to buy him chicken as a joke, but the dark aura that had come from Valentine at the statement had quickly shot the man's idea down and instead, he had left the bird to grab something else; some chunks of raw meat that is.

He had asked the cook to leave it raw.

'Cheers!',Leorio grinned and rose his drink in the air,'Congrats on making it past stage one!'

Holding out the packet, Gon had asked the older man to take a look at it for them and he looked at them confused, placing his drink down as he took it from the boy's hands.

'A contract, huh?',Leorio asked and carefully read over what was written on the pages,'It can be summed up in three points. First, you can't file any claims of you're injured or die. Second, any items that you bring out of the game belong to Mr. Battera. Third, if you clear the game, you will receive a fifty billion Jenny reward'

Placing the papers down, Leorio looked between the three and had a bright smile on his face as he leaned back.

'I don't see any problems!',The man stated.

Nodding his head, a small smile of relief was on Gon's face and he knew that it was a good thing.

Since Leorio didn't think that there were any problems with it, then they'd be just fine.

'Just sign it and you're all set',Leorio stated.

'Point two seems pretty important'

Turning towards Killua, the three all blinked in confusion in unison, causing the silverette to look between them and sigh slightly, leaning his cheek in the palm on his hand.

'It talks about any item that you might bring out of the game',Killua stated and opened his eyes as he took his head away from his hand, looking between the three,'He's offering an enormous reward and that's why'

Blinking with her eyes wide in curiosity, Valentine's lips were parted slightly and she tilted her head to the side as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, causing Killua to turn his gaze towards her.

Seeing that she was still confused, caused a small sigh to leave the silverette lips and he slowly shook his head, but couldn't help the small smile that twitched at corner of his lips.

'Yeah.. but what kind of items?',Leorio asked and drew the silverette's attention towards him.

As the green-haired boy spoke up, Valentine's eyes softened at the way her brother figures eyes glistened and sparkled, causing a small smile to twitch at her lips.

'I don't care, because I'm not playing for items',Gon stated,'I just want to get as close as possible to Ging!'

With a small smile on his face, Leorio placed his cheek in the palm of his hand and his elbow rested on the table as he stared at Gon with admiration.

༺♥༻

Now standing outside of the restaurant, the four were looking at one another and Leorio looked down at the younger children, a small smile on his face.

'Well, see ya',Leorio stated.

'Good luck on your exam, Leorio!',Gon exclaimed and a large grin spread across his lips.

Chuckling slightly, Leorio looked between the three and saw that Gon and Valentine's eyes were glistening as they smiled up at him; their eyes shinning with confidence.

Confidence in him.

'Thanks, you four be careful, okay?',Leorio told them and pointedly looked towards Zeus.

Seeing that the older man was staring at him, an offended screech left Zeus's beak and his obsidian eyes widened, before deadpanning.

'You'll be a doctor the next time we see you',Gon stated.

Chuckling slightly at the boy's confidence, Leorio reached forward and ruffled each of the children's hair, causing Killua to shout out his discomfort, pushing the man's hand away.

Finally registering Gon's words, the man stopped short and a small drop of sweat slowly fell down the side of his face as he looked between them.

'Wait.. does that mean we won't see each other for four years?',The bespectacled teen questioned and he frowned deeply.

He was clearly referring to how long it would take to clear Greed Island.

'We're going to clear that game fast',Killua reassured Leorio with a confident smile on his face,'So it isn't going to take that long'

With a sigh of relief, the man straightened up and brightly smiled down at the four, nodding confidently.

'Then I'll be ready'

They all smiled up at each other and no matter how much they wanted to stay together, being a group once more, Leorio turned away with a heavy heart and walked away from the three, causing Valentine and Gon to wave to him as he walked away.

༺♥༻

The loud whistle of the train echoed throughout the air and the four were now currently on their way to play Greed Island.

The boys were currently sleeping, but Valentine wasn't that tired so she decided to stay awake and looked out the window, watching as droplets of rain stuck to the glass, quietly twirling her dagger in her hand.

Even though her and her sister didn't get along all of the time, the young blonde began to wonder how Akari was and if she was back home.

She also began to think about Jaxon.

They hadn't talked in a while and she felt really guilty, maybe she could try and call him later, she didn't want to wake up Gon and Killua.

With a small sigh leaving her lips, Valentine pulled the phone out of her pocket and stared down at it with a hesitant look in her eyes.

Harshly biting into her lower lips, the blonde squeezed her eyes shut and stuffed the phone into her pocket, a small puff of air leaving her nose as she opened her eyes, looking out the window once more.

Later.

She'd call him later.

༺♥༻

Following after Tsezgerra, the group walked into a somber looking building and walked into a room with many game consoles hooked up, before the man stood in front of them.

'Now then, I'll just explain a few things before we begin',The man began,'The individual game copies are not independent of each other. No matter which console you start from, you'll arrive at the same place; think of it as a virtual area. Accessible from any spot on this planet'

Pulling out a small object, Tsezgerra held it up for them all to see and Valentine tilted her head upon seeing the memory card.

'I'll hand out memory cards to each of you. Once I do head straight into the game',The man ordered,'But first, we'll decide the order'

'Order?',Somebody spoke up from behind them.

'The game only allows one player at a time',Tsezgerra explained and hearing this caused Valentine's eyes to widened as concern filled her body.

Glancing towards Zeus; who rested on her left shoulder, Valentine frowned slightly, wondering if he would be counted as a player and if so, then that would mean they'd have to split up.

So Zeus would have to somehow find his own way into the game.

'We'll decide now to avoid any bickering inside of the game'

'Then let's use rock-paper-scissors'

Unluckily for Valentine, she was the nineteenth player who would be entering the game.

Having remembered Gon from before, Tsezgerra had questioned the boy asking if he had a save file and taking the ring and card out of his pocket, he looked up at the man, nodding slightly.

'Would you like to use it? Don't worry, your initial destination is always the same, regardless of your save file'

Hesitating for a moment, Gon looked towards his friend and watching as Valentine and Killua nodded towards him with small smiles on theme faces, caused the green-haired boy to smile as well.

'I'm going to go for it!',Gon exclaimed confidently and looked up at Tsezgerra,'I'll use my own card'

'Okay, then put the ring on and whenever you're ready to go, begin'

Hearing Killua's voice, Gon paused for a moment and turned towards his friends, having already four the ring on his pointer finger.

'Wait in the starting area until we get there',Killua said,'Okay?'

Holding up his thumb, Gon smiled towards his friends and nodded, before heading towards the Joystation.

Focusing his Nen on the console, everyone watched as he disappeared and entered the game, causing Valentine to gasp as her eyes shone with fascination.

'Woah..',Killua breathed out and a small smile twitched at his lips.

'The next player can go as soon as the screen says "Now playing".'

༺♥༻

Finally, it was now Valentine's turn and as she walked up to the console, she looked towards Tsezgerra, watching as he looked towards her as well.

Gesturing towards the bird on her shoulder with her eyes, it was clear to the girl that he had understood her question and nodded his head causing a small smile to form on the blonde's face.

Looking back towards the console, Valentine focused and felt as her aura slowly began to cover her whole body.

Suddenly, her body began to feel very strange and before she knew it, Valentine was now standing in a black and white room; which was clearly computer based.

'Welcome to Greed Island, Valentine Nitsune'

Jumping slightly, a small scream left the girl's lips and seeing that it was only another girl, an embarrassed blush formed on the blonde's face as she cleared her throat.

'I'm sorry for having startled you',She apologized,'But, I will now explain how the game works. In this game, two magic spells are available to anyone wearing a ring; they are called Book and Gain. Place the hand wearing the ring in front of you and say, "Book".'

Slowly raising up her hand, Valentine placed her hand in front on her and stared at the spot.

"Ugh.. Book"

Suddenly, a random book appeared out of thin air and Valentine's eyes widened as they gleamed in fascination, a small gasp leaving her lips.

Shrieking in shock, Zeus's obsidian eyes widened and he tilted his head to the side, slowly leaning forward as he looked at the strange item.

'You see, your task is to seek out and collect certain cards. That binder is for storing all of the cards you've collected. Now please, take a look at the first page'

Opening the book, Valentine let out a sound of curiosity at all of the empty card slots that were resided in the book and she saw about nine slots on the first page in total.

'Each slot is labeled with a number. With these, you can only place a card that's number corresponds with the one on the slot',The woman explained,'These are your "specified slots". Please flip ahead a few pages'

Turning the pages, Valentine tilted her head as she had seen that there were no numbers on this page and she blinked in confusion.

"No numbers?"

'That's correct. These are your "free slots". There are 100 restricted slots numbered from 0 to 99. To clear this game, you must fill the restricted slots'

Nodding slightly, Valentine understood what she was saying and let out a small hum.

"I see. So I need to gather 100 cards in order to win?"

'Yes',The woman stated,'Specifically, you must transform one hundred items and put them into your book'

Seeing that the young Nitsune was still confused, the woman smiled slightly and continued to explain.

'For example, if you obtain a sword, it will become a card the moment you get it',She explained,'If you wish to use a card as the item, you must first use the spell "Gain". However, once you've used Gain to return a card to item form, you can never transform it into a card again. If you want the card version of the item, you must once again require it. Does this make sense so far?'

Nodding her head, Valentine smiled at the girl and watched as she slowly smiled back.

'Now, there are two other cases where an item can't become a card',She explained,'In the first of those two cases, you reach the items maximum conversion limit'

Letting out a small noise of fascination and understanding, Valentine slowly nodded her head and Zeus chirped lowly, looking around the room.

"So there is a limit"

'Yes',The girl nodded,'Every item in this game has a limit for the number of times it can be converted. For instance, if an item has a conversion limit of three and there are three other players who have converted that item into a card already then that's it. The fourth player who obtains that item can not change it into a card. In the second case, a card will turn back into an item unless it's in your book within one minute. In this case, it is also irreversible. Do you understand?'

Nodding gently, Valentine's golden eyes stared into the woman's ocean one's and slowly, a smile fell across her lips.

'Finally, the most important word of caution',She spoke up and this quickly caught the attention of Valentine and Zeus, causing them to look towards her,'In this game, whenever a player dies, both their binder and their ring are destroyed. And the contents will cease to exist'

Humming slightly, an interested look filled her eyes and Valentine tilted her head to the side, her lips parted slightly.

So even if they had tried to steal someone else's cards, they would be no good to them dead.

'That concludes my explanation',The woman spoke up, snapping Valentine out of her thoughts,'You will need to learn about all of the other aspects of the game by playing it for yourself'

Smiling brightly, Valentine nodded in understanding and clasped her hands together, placing them in front of her as she beamed up at the woman.

"I understand",The young blonde said,"Thank you!"

Suddenly, the floor began to open up and different parts of the floor tiles began to fall, forming a staircase.

'I wish you the very best of luck on your journey',She stated,'Now please, walk down the stairs'

Waving goodbye to the woman with a bright smile, Valentine walked towards the stairs and went down them with a small slip in her step, a tuneful hum leaving her lips.

Finally making it to the bottom, a gentle breeze swept through the air and as light a feather, it softly blew back strands of gold as eyes of thunder glistened brightly in the light as the beams hit her face, brightening her features with a soft glow.

Little did she know, a brand new adventure was about to unfold.