Ingredients for the Future

The other four turned to look at each other before Gon nodded.

"A-all right." Said Mary taking a deep breath. "I-it all began one...

——————

Around an hour later she had finished recounting her and her sister's past. Including the horrors Bloody Mary had committed.

"T-the one who attacked you guys, Leorio and Kurapika. It wasn't me, but even so, I'm still to blame. I'm sorry." Mary said.

Throughout the entirety of Mary's story the four had had different reactions. However, all four of them had a similar reaction to a specific part, the four had responded in shock when told, which eventually changed to an empty hope. Especially for Leorio and Kurapika, who had exhibited this hope the most.

—————

"If your sister can bring back the dead, then, c-can she bring back my friend?" Leorio whispered.

"What about my clan? Is she able to bring them back?" Asked Kurapika with tears forming in his eyes.

Pushing back her own tears at remembering her first friend Mary answered, "No, there are requirements that need to be met before she can bring someone back. Not to mention, e-even if she could, it's a question of if she would."

"Then would she?" Asked Killua.

Mary shook her head no in response as Kurapika and Leorio wept silent tears. As the story continued.

—————

Then again three of the four responded similarly upon hearing about Elizabeth, Mary's first friend.

"That's horrible." Said Kurapika In rage. "She's no better than them."

[Mary, your friends are awful themselves, aren't they? Just because I killed off a child or two it makes me awful? Their way of thinking is horrible, a few adults get torn apart, it's only "that's disturbing and bad". But oh! A young girl being reduced to scraps during her birthday party is where they draw the line!? They are the despicable ones, not me. They are the problem in life. Those who look the other way when something bad happens, but shout Bloody Murder when something happens that doesn't go with their beliefs. Wouldn't you agree with me that those kinds of people are the ones who should disappear? Perhaps in a great flame? Slowly dying from the heat and oxygen deprivation as smoke fills their lungs.] Bloody Mary stated as she laughed and smiled near the end.

Mary ignored her sister as she listened solemnly to the others.

"What kind of a person could do such a thing?" Asked Leorio.

Mary spoke up, "T-There is no person who could do such a thing, only monsters could do something like that."

[Monsters? Oh no you must have misunderstood something just now Mary! Those things don't exist, only animals of which we don't understand could be called a 'monster'. Besides! It's not like her pet attacked anyone! So how could a monster like that take the blame for killing her?]

All the while the four beside him confessed to their disgust for the act. Killua just sat there, not responding in the slightest.

—————

Back to the present

"I can understand why you let her out, after the situation that happened with your friend. However, couldn't you have stopped her sooner with a swap?" Asked Killua.

[Exactly! For that reason I should thank you, but that is the only reason I should thank you for. After all, it's not always that I get to enjoy a game like that.]

"I-I might have been able to, however her bloodlust would have only increased with rage if I had done so. S-She is very particular on not being interrupted when she is having her 'fun'" said Mary.

[Mary, don't you think you're being unfair to me, who likes being interrupted when having fun in the first place? In exchange for this injustice, I believe you should let me out more often as a pseudo reimbursement.]

"But you could have swapped out with her right?" Killua asked again.

"Killua, I think that's enough for now. Or else we not pass the second phase in time." Said Kurapika with two streaks that ran down his face.

As the four stood up and got ready to leave, Mary whispered to Kurapika. "Thank you."

To which Kurapika responded, "We all have our inner demons."

['Some more literal than others,' isn't that what you're thinking, you self-centered coward!?] laughed a voice in Mary's mind.

[T-thank you too, sister, for reuniting me with my friends once again.] Mary thought.

[Reunions are fun and all, but one of the negative things about a reunion is that they don't always last long.] thought Bloody Mary to herself with a smile.

—————

In another area of the Visca Forest

Dozens of corpses littered the lively forest grass as large pink pigs feasted on them. Their large, overly tough snouts functioned as a shield to protect themselves against the applicants as their powerful jaws killed the aforementioned applicants quickly. However, among them were a few who had figured out their weakness.

"Look up ahead!" Shouted Gon.

Before their eyes they could see applicant number 294, Hanzo finishing off his pig by throwing a flurry of shuriken towards its forehead, killing it almost instantly. Eventually he picked up his produce in an almost comical way, picking it up and carrying the massive creature above his head as he broke out into a run.

"So their weak spot is their forehead, all right then." Said Killua as he headed over to another lone pig, feasting on a dead applicant.

"S-Still, even if we know their weak point be careful! Their size and large snouts aren't just for show!" Shouted Mary.

"I know." Killua shouted back.

"Now then, it's time for us to find our own pigs." Remarked Leorio.

As he began to walk to a different one, Mary put out her hand to stop him.

"One pig is enough." Said Mary.

[One pig? But isn't there one standing beside your three friends already? Wouldn't that make two? Mary, I expected you to be far better at mathematics with all that studying you've done.] Bloody Mary chimed in. [Or do you still consider yourself nothing after all? Although you wouldn't be wrong, nor alone in that assumption.]

"Huh!?" Asked Leorio and Gon.

"M-Menchi and Buhara never said we had to cook or present our dish alone, so it'll work if we all cook the same dish together!" Said Mary happily.

"But still, why are we not getting more than one pig?" Asked Gon.

"Because right now we should be focusing on finding ingredients that would compliment the pork's flavor." She said with a smile.