Tulips of Truth [Ⓗⓤⓝⓣⓔⓡ Ⓧ Ⓗⓤⓝⓣⓔⓡ]

Chapter 10: To x Pay a x Price

Cassandra bid a silent "thank you" to Victor as Derek rolled his eyes, going back to the couch to sleep. 

...

After the 50 hours had run down, the group of 5 exited the room, ending up at 2 doors. Derek still tried his hand at charming the redhead, but Cassandra knew to stay away from him. She just wanted to be in the warm embrace of Gon and his friends. "So wait. What do we have to do here?" Victor asked.

"There's a sign here. This will be the last decision made by majority rule. Are you ready? Choose O or X. That's it," Jayden read.

The group pressed the buttons on their stopwatches, and the results showed 4 people pressed O, and 1 person pressed X. Before Victor could lash out at Jayden, Cassandra stopped him, saying there was no time to argue. Now they had to select a path with two choices being given to them. One was a long path that would allow all 5 of them but would take longer than the shorter path, which only allowed 3 of them to pass. "Just to make it clear, I'm pressing X," Victor said.

"Excuse me, but you made us spend 50 hours in a secluded room. I think, if we choose the short path, Victor should be locked up. I bet everyone agrees," Jayden argued, looking at the others.

Robert, however, said he would press O. "We made it here together, and we should all pass together. Even if this is a big risk, I want to take my shot at it," he said.

All of a sudden, Jayden came down on Robert with an axe, chopping his left arm off. Blood splattered the floor as he screamed in pain. Derek, Victor, and Cassandra stayed silent in horror. This got scary fast. "Jayden!! That was dirty!" Cassandra yelled, staggering back.

"You know, there's no such thing as dirty in a fight. You're just a goody-two-shoes who refuses to get her hands dirty," Jayden spat, swinging again at Robert.

Derek scowled at the hurtful comment, going to join the fight. Thankfully, Robert had dodged the swing, taking a spear into his right hand. "Maybe we should make it clear where you belong," he said, pointing the spear at Jayden.

As the two men fought, Victor seemed to have an idea. He walked to Cassandra and shared the idea. She smirked slightly, pushing her glasses up. The two of them grabbed an axe and began hacking at the walls. By the time Derek, Robert, and Jayden found out what they were doing, the two of them had already entered through O's door and hacked into the wall beside the entrance. That opened up a way for them to go down the easy path. Cassandra let Robert go first, helping him onto the slide. She then slid down, quickly followed by Derek, Jayden, and Victor. "I can taste victory! It's coming up!!" Derek laughed.

Robert looked back at Cassandra, hope shining in his eyes. He may have one arm left, but now wasn't the time to worry about the excruciating pain. They were almost at the finish. When the slide ended, Robert was helped up by Cassandra as the two 

"Robert, applicant 34, is the 26th to pass. Cassandra, applicant 406, is the 27th to pass. Derek, applicant 37, is the 28th to pass. Total time, 71 hours and 59 minutes," the speaker said.

Gon, whose group got there when 45 seconds were left, ran to Cassandra and hugged her while bouncing on his toes. "You did it!! We're back together!!" he exclaimed.

Cassandra nodded, with no giggle or smile, and returned the hug. "Hey, Cass. You made it. And two others came after. Also- uh... What happened to that guy Robert?" Leorio asked.

"Jayden cut his left arm off..." Cassandra replied, her voice faltering.

Leorio pursed his lips into a thin line, tilting his head to the side. Was she alright? Kurapika was next to approach Cassandra, looking at her face. "Oh, goodness. You're all dirty. How... How did you get to the bottom? Did you have to leave 2 in the room?" he asked, dusting her cheeks off.

The redhead stayed quiet, though she could've sworn her cheeks felt warm, and removed her glasses to clean the dirt off them. That's when Derek came over, standing beside her. "Well, Jayden got angry and tried to kill two of us so he and two others could pass. But Victor got an idea and started hacking an axe into the walls, opening a way for us to escape. And uh, yeah. Did you guys go through something similar?" he inquired.

"Mhmm. Tonpa was being a dirty player-"

"HEY!!!"

"It's the truth!!" Leorio called.

Cassandra didn't dare speak when Derek was around. Learning his true nature, he was trying to play a friend here. "Hey... Cassandra, are you okay?" Kurapika asked, trying to get her to look at him.

She only nodded, not uttering a word. "It must be something heavy on her mind. Let's leave her be," Derek said, driving him away from the redhead.

Kurapika exhaled lightly and went back to his friends, still worried for Cassandra's wellbeing. That's when the large doors opened, letting light flood the room. The Third Phase of the Hunter Exam was over.