... 7 YEARS AGO ...
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Mei walked down the chipping sidewalk, whistling softly to herself. The clouds overhead had darkened, charged with energy and condensation.

She tightened the straps of her school bag to stop it from annoyingly bouncing against her leg, and picked up her pace. She didn't want to get caught in the heavy downpour.

"Stop!"

The voice echoed in the empty air, pleading and desperate. She froze in her steps, a cold shiver going down her spine.

"Stop! Please!"

Mei turned around slowly, her hands trembling on her backpack straps. There was no one to be seen around her, but that voice, it sounded—

"What do you want? Money? Drugs? I'll pay you double what he's giving you!"

There! By the side of that building. Mei swallowed, squinting in the direction of the abandoned school across the street. A man was slumped against the crumbling brick wall, looking beaten to an inch of his life. A river of blood ran down the front of his shirt as he looked up in fear at the two figures standing over him. A burly man with long silver hair was staring down at the injured man with disdain, and by his side, was...was...

Mei's heart dropped like a stone to the pit of her stomach. It was undeniable. She could recognize that face anywhere.

It was Killua Zoldyck, a boy from her class. She always knew he was scary, when people would talk to him and then come to school the next day with a beat up face, but this...and was he holding a gun?

"Save it," came the man's gruff voice, startling her out of her thoughts. "It's useless to beg. Killua, the gun." The man held his hand out, and Killua passed the weapon over to him obediently.

Mei and the mystery victim shared a horrified gasp.

"N-No! You can't! You won't get away with this! STOP!"

Move, you idiot! Mei screamed at herself internally, but it was no use. Her feet were like cement blocks, weighed down by some imaginary force.

Click click. BANG!

Blood. Everywhere. So much blood. The man's headless body slumped forwards, bits of skull and brain matter splattered graphically across the bricks. Mei heard a strangled scream, and it wasn't until the boy's head turned to face her that she realized it was her.

MOVE! NOW! Alarm bells blared in her head, and this time she listened.