Cards and Keys

Chapter Seven: Egg Diving

Lucy POV

After a short airship flight- which I'd spent sleeping, regaining my energy and avoiding Hisoka- we landed atop a colossal mountain. It had a great split down the middle so was suitably named Split Mountain.

Menchi and Chairman Netero led us all over to the side of the ravine, slightly too close to comfort. All it would of taken was one misstep for me to go tumbling.

"This it it, take a look at what's down there." Menchi pointed into the ravine and I peered over the side. The walls were covered in white webbing, like a spiders, but far bigger and denser. What creature could've made those...?

"That, folks, is a spider-eagle web." She explained. A spider eagle? I shivered at the thought- what kind of abomination of nature was that?

I was about to ask about it, until a massive updrift of wind knocked me and many others back. Menchi smiled and continued.
"But you need not to worry about any spider eagles today, what you need is their eggs, which they keep in their webs ."

"So that means we're going down there?" A random applicant asked with worry.
"Exactly!" Menchi nodded and launched herself off of the side of the ravine.

Everyone gasped to see that menchi had grabbed onto one of the webs mid-fall.
A few moments later, she released the webbing and fell deeper into the ravine, grabbing an egg as she fell.

"Is she trying to get herself killed?!" Leorio shuddered.
"No, watch closely." Kurapika replied.
I hummed in agreement. She maybe weird, but she was smart enough not to kill herself. Another gust of wind erupted from the ravine, lifting Menchi back to the surface, egg in hand.

"Woah! That looks so fun!" Killua and Gon cheered. Those two, along with Leorio and Kurapika all jumped into the ravine without so much as a second thought. I ,on the other hand, stepped back in uncertainty- wanting to asses the situation a little more before I jumped.

"Nervous?~" A sly voice appeared from next to me.
"Slightly. Not that it's any of your business" I said wryly. This was one of the many times Hisoka had approached me since we'd boarded the airship. He'd apologised several times, saying that he wasn't aware that I cared so much about Gon and the others and that he'd only wanted to test them. A poor excuse for an apology, I'd found.

"I could jump with you if you want~" He offered, outstretching his slender hand.

"Why should I trust you?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You don't need to trust me. Just trust in my abilities." He kept his hand outstretched, though his jovial tone had dipped into a more serious one.

I stared down at the abyss beneath us and then looked back to him. If Happy were here, he would've just flown me down and back up in a matter of seconds. But Happy wasn't here. So I was going to be falling one way or another. I could summon Aries or Virgo... but that'd mean revealing my magic to everyone here, which I did quite want to do yet.

And as much as it pained me to agree with Hisoka- he was right, his abilities seemed perfectly suited for something like this- he had the agility of a gymnast and the strength of a strongman.
And if he did end up pushing me or something, I could call on my spirits as a last resort.

Cautiously, I accepted his hand.
"Okay. I'll go with you...But, why? Why are you helping me?"

"I want to make things up to you...or start to." His eyes shifted over me uneasily, his words more blunt and perhaps honest than I'd ever heard him before. Or maybe I was deluding myself. I couldn't be sure.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you- because I don't. But...I'll go with you."

Hisoka nodded, accepting my verdict.

"Oh, and don't let go of the webbing until I say so~" He advised, returning to his usual flippant jovial tone.
"Sure." I sighed, bracing myself for the jump.
He pulled me forwards, and we flung ourselfs off the side of the ravine. For a moment, I thought I might actually fall to my death- until Hisoka nudged me, reminding me to grab hold one of the sticky webs that surrounded us. Adrenaline coursing though me, I outstretched my arm and grasped my hand around the webbing. To my relief, I stayed put- the webbing saving me from certain death. Hisoka hung next to me, seeming rather unbothered by the whole ordeal.

It was hard to see due to the mist, but I could just about spot Gon and the others still hanging on. It brought a relieved smile to my face. Though it looked like a few other applicants had already let go, and they hadn't flown upwards like Menchi had...
"How do we know when to let go?" I turned to Hisoka.

"I can tell by the air pressure~ Just let go on my signal." He replied.
I reluctantly agreed, still not fully convinced I wouldn't plummet as soon as he told me to let go. But I didn't have anything better to go of. It was either Hisoka, or luck- and despite my namesake, I didn't consider myself lucky.

The longer we hung on, more applicants fell around us, and the more the web thinned out- peeling off from the walls. It wouldn't last much longer.
"Ready yet?" I asked anxiously to Hisoka, itching to get back to the surface.

"Just a little longer~" Hisoka assured me and then spun around, nodding his head in the direction of someone I hadn't met before. The man had a frightening amount of pins in his face and sickly purple skin. What business could Hisoka of had with him? Something sketchy for sure.

"It's time~" He spun back to me and once again held out his hand. I took it and we both let go- plummeting downwards into the abyss.

I pulled an egg from the carrier as we passed and tried to ignore the anxiety that was ebbing in my stomach. The wind lashing at my face little to calm me, whistling violently as if it were being played on a flute of death. Moments passed. We were still falling. Had Hisoka lied? Was I going to die? Was I wrong to trust him?-
My thoughts were silenced as we were flung back up by the wind current. Up and out of the ravine.
I was ok- I wasn't falling.

I was about to breath a breathe of relief until I looked down and realised- realised that me, being the genius I am, had worn a skirt that day. Of all days. And with one of my hands carrying the egg, and one clasped to Hisoka's, I was unable to hold it down.

"Don't you dare look!" I yelped at Hisoka, who was smirking and doing a terrible job at holding back his laughter. Despite his laughter, he pulled me in towards his chest, in the bridalstyle position we'd been in when he'd carried me in the first phase. It was an unwelcome gesture.
"What do you think you're doing?" The hand that had been in mine carefully twisted around my torso. I squirmed as his arm manoeuvred around me.
"You said you didn't want anyone looking~." He simply stated, his hand settling next to my thigh, pulling my skirt back down so that I was covered . I looked at him with uncertainty, "Oh...thanks?"

"You're welcome dear~ But perhaps wearing a skirt to the hunter exam wasn't the best idea." He chuckled as we finally landed back on solid ground. I quickly hopped out of his arms, welcoming the sturdy earth beneath my boots.
"Yah think?" I groaned, looking around to realise that I was getting a few unsavoury looks from some of the male applicants.

"Lucy!" Gons familiar voice rang out as the boy and his friends raced over to me. "You got one! We were worried..." He trailed off, his gaze shifting wearily to Hisoka, who was still hovering beside me. Wanting to relive his worry, I ruffled his hair and gave him a grin.
"You bet I did! You guys don't need to worry about me, I can handle myself."

"Especially when she's with me~" Hisoka added- to my annoyance. It was true that he'd helped me pass this phase, as well as the first- but that didn't alleviate the shit he'd pulled in the swamp. So I shot him a look that said you're not off the hook just yet. He surprisingly seemed to take the hint, giving me space to reunite with my friends and slinking off towards the pin-faced man I'd seen earlier.

Menchi soon pulled our attention by clapping her hands together. "Times up everyone! If you've got an egg then start cooking, if you don't then you've failed."

We were led over to a large bowl of boiling water, where we left the eggs to cook. This time, when they were done, we got to eat them ourselves, instead of having them judged by Menchi. I savoured every bite- the events of the day having left me starving.

~
A/N: Hey guysss! Sorry that I took forever to update, school's been painful lately 😩✋ Also I kinda want to make a chapter w all the lucy in hxh edits I've made bcz there is a lot👩‍🦯