A marionette's dance (Yandere!ShalnarkXreader

trick tower

“I apologise for the long wait. The airship will soon arrive at its destination.”
You regret sleeping on the floor. Your eyes were heavy with sleep, your back ached from the hard surface, you were hungry, and you were certain you looked a mess. When you managed to grab your disorientated bearings enough to stand up, you set your mind to find a restroom and fix up your appearance. You kept your head down and avoided people as much as possible, certain that if they saw you, they could tell you had cried. Everything proceeded as planned until a voice halted you in your steps.
“Y/n? Where have you been?” Kurapika approached you and you could tell by the second pair of steps that Leorio was also with him.
“The airship is landing soon. Do you want to join us for some food?”
Food sounded nice but you could feel the grime on your face.
Turning towards them with the best smile you could muster, you began, “Thanks for the offer but I need to do something first.”
When you opened your eyes, you saw them hold a look of concern. “Have you been crying?”
‘Oh wonderful.’ you thought sarcastically to yourself.
“No. I just got some dirt in my eyes. It's nothing important.”
You began to walk off before they could respond but Kurapika caught your arm.
“You’re lying,” he began, grip unyielding, “You’ve been lying. You know you can trust us right?”
You struggled to pull your arm from his hand.
“I’m fine! Really!”
Were you though? You expected him to yell at you or to leave you just as he once did but he did something different. He pulled you into a hug and held you as if you were made of glass.
“It’s fine if you don't want to talk about it,” he spoke softly, “but we’re here if you need someone.”
You spoke before you could think, “What do you care? You hardly know me.”
He looked at you and spoke calmly.
“Because you seem trustworthy. Besides, we’re friends are we not?”
  He thinks of you as a friend? It felt nice.
“Yeah.”
You could only manage one word or you felt that you might break again. He released you and you sped walked to the nearest restroom. The person in the mirror was a sight you hadn't seen in a long time. Your eyes were puffy and red, your hair was dishevelled and dirty, you had dust, sweat, and grime all over your face and clothes from the ground, and you looked like a child again. A childhood wasn’t promised to anyone but dangerous conditions such as Meteor city gave you two choices. Mature or die. And you chose to mature. Cleanliness was something that you valued a lot. You pride yourself on being tidy and put together and it was jarring to be so filthy. You spent the last hour on the airship fixing yourself as much as you could with just your hands and tap water.

  “Ahem... Everyone, the exam's Third Phase will begin here, at the top of Trick Tower.”
The announcement met your ears as you approached your group. You had managed to tidy your appearance up enough to look normal. Gon greeted you with a smile and killua just nodded in your direction. Leorio and Kurapika talked amongst themselves but smiled at you as you arrived.
“To pass this phase, you must reach the tower's base alive. The time limit is seventy-two hours. With that, we will now begin the Third Phase. I will pray for your success.”
Everyone looked around suspiciously, unsure of how they were supposed to do that. Trick tower was an enormous, smooth tower that reached way past the clouds. There were no footholds or doors anywhere and it stumped you.
“Are we supposed to climb down?”
It seemed like the only option but didn't feel like the correct one.
“That would be suicide…”
A man approached the ledge with a cocky smile.
“Maybe for a normal person. But a top-class rock climber can handle this, no problem.”
He jumped off the side and began scaling the surface. It was awe-inspiring to watch the stranger climb down. An animal caw resided from a distance and you watched a giant bird creature approach.
“Stop! Stay away! Stop! Stop it! Help!”
His screams echoed through everyone's ears as the creatures flew away with him.
“G-Guess we can't climb down the side…” Leorio surmised.
People started disappearing and you questioned if they fell off. Unlikely considering Hisaoka and Needle guy were gone. You were searching for the missing people when a door opened below you, dropping you into darkness.