Entangled - Illumi Zoldyck Fanfiction

Chapter 7

With a groan, Mei rolled onto her back and stared at the trap door ceiling she had just plummeted through.

"Not my brightest moment," she sighed while flinging an elbow over her eyes.

Tuning into her surroundings, she tilted her head back on the stone floor and towards the darkened corner behind her.

"Uhhh... Gittarackur was it?"

A slight tittering of sound was heard as the man's now familiar, yet strange face came into the dim light.

Silence permeated the room.

"Do you know what we're supp-"

Shifting quickly to her right, she narrowly dodged a sharp pin aimed at her face.

Glancing down at the deeply lodged object in the stone where she previously laid, Mei scarcely dodged the next attack.

Left. Right. Jump. Duck.

Gittarackur's pins seemed to shower after her.

Dodging to the left again, Mei held back a gasp as she met Gittarackur's vested chest.

Towering over her petite figure, the man dwarfed her.

"Contestant 301. Contestant 32. Please proceed to the podium to begin your team challenge," Rang a distorted voice from above.

Flexed fingers remained poised in front of Mei's forehead.

"Team...?" Mei whispered with widened eyes.

As quickly as he had appeared in front of her, Gittarackur was now on the opposite side of the room approaching a lone podium Mei had previously overlooked.

A new clinking sound filled the room along with Gittarackur's tittering movements.

As the man shifted, Mei found the source of the sound.

"Contestant 301. Contestant 32. To traverse Trick Tower, you must combine your efforts and continue forward together. No one shall pass without the other."

The hollow smile of Gittarackur seemed to slim as he held eye contact with Mei.

Watching as the dangling cuffs popped open in his hands, Mei made no effort to move.

With a low grumble, the stone wall behind Gittarackur began to slide away to reveal a lone corridor extending into darkness.

Yet, neither contestant moved.

A slight narrowing of eyes was the only notice Mei received before she heard a distinct click from her right wrist.

Jerking back, Mei attempted to put space between herself and the man who had been attacking her moments ago.

Without so much as a glance in her direction, Gittarackur began walking towards the open corridor before them.

Stumbling forward, Mei quickly righted herself and firmly planted her heels into the stone below.

Feeling the resistance, Gittarackur glanced back.

Through gritted teeth, Mei growled "We're not going ANYWHERE until we establish some ground rules. You heard them, this is a TEAM effort. You don't get to-"

Yelping, Mei found herself dragged forward after the towering man again.

"Hey! Listen to me -"

With an "oof", Mei face-planted into the broad back of the now stationary Gittarackur.

Without so much as a glance in her direction, Gittarackur spoke,

"I recall no mention of contestants needing their vocal cords to continue through the tower. Merely that they must continue forward together."

The man spoke calmly.

Shifting so his eyes met Mei's, he continued.

"To make myself clear," he leaned his face towards Mei's.

"This is not a team. This is an inconvenience that I will not allow to escalate. You will-"

Swiftly, Gittarackur leaned his face away to avoid the fist that was thrown towards him.

Blankly the man's eyes shifted from Mei's fist to her now fierce gaze.

"If that's how you want this to go, fine," She spoke.

Pacing past the man, Mei took the lead in their walk down the corridor.

Hours had past since their squabble and they had yet again found themselves routed back to the same dingy room they started in.

'There has to be another way,' Mei thought to herself.

Squinting her eyes at their surroundings, Mei called out

"Hey, lift me up would you?"

The ever-frozen smile and beady eyes of Gittarackur clicked to face her.

"Obviously, this isn't working. There has to be another way, we just haven't found it yet," She reasoned.

Gittarackur maintained eye contact for a moment, before turning away from Mei.

When the man remained stationary, Mei internally steamed.

'Teamwork is obviously not his strong suit,' she thought.

Frowning, she reached out and skimmed her fingertips along the circular walls.

'There has to be something else we're missing.'

Peering at the man attached to her wrist, Mei noted his shifting vision.

'So he was listening,' Mei mused as she shifted her own gaze around the room.

Squeaking, she suddenly found herself looking at the man's purple mohawk from a new - higher - angle.

"What are you doin-"

"19 from the bottom, 3rd to the right," Gittarackur's blank voice cut through her gasp.

"Excuse me?" Mei asked with widened eyes.

"The chain," Gittarackur spoke plainly before pausing to add "...You are excused."

Processing the man's words, Mei's face crinkled in confusion as she followed his line of sight.

"Oh," Mei spoke as her gaze landed on a short chain protruding from the circular wall... exactly 19 stones from the bottom and three rows to the right of their position.

Feeling hands on her thighs as she was jolted higher in the air, Mei floundered to find her balance for a moment.

'A little warning would be nice,' she grumbled internally as she glared down at what little she could see of Gittarackur's head.

Shifting in his embrace, Mei motioned for him to walk closer to the wall.

Stretching, her fingers barely jostled the last link of the chain.

Furrowing her brows, Mei shifted her right knee onto Gittarackur's shoulder.

'Just a little further,' she thought as she leaned - her left knee finding purchase on the man's other shoulder.

'Got it!' She grinned as her unrestrained hand wrapped firmly around the chain's tail before pulling with all of her might.

As quickly as her grin came, however, it fell... along with the two tangled teammates.

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I am not associated with & do not own Hunter x Hunter or any of it's characters/plots etc. My character is Mei.

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Currently working on Chapters 8-12, what are your thoughts so far???