Speak of the Devil // COMPLETED ✔

Queen's Gambit: The Sequel

a/n: I've attached the game I referenced but modified it slightly so IF YOU FEEL LIKE HAVING A VISUAL SIDE-BY-SIDE... the video's there for you to reference lol and not be spoiled by (lookin at you Sup-Love)

Hours later, Killua abandoned the chessboard with Gon so he could return to the bedroom. His slippers squelched on the marble and tracked puddles behind him.

After getting a change of clothes and drying off, Killua returned to the bed where his grandfather was reliably still asleep with Illumi still gone. Killua snuck under the quilt and, with the sole of one foot pressed against the cool skin of his calf, was able to quell some of the pain while he fell asleep.

Sleep only lasted a few hours, as his grandfather was the first to wake and rouse the mattress with his clambering to get up.

Jostled, Killua stirred and squinted a bleary, tired eye open to see Illumi scowling in annoyance across the gap their grandfather left at the center of the bedspread. Illumi burrowed further under the blankets so Killua couldn't see, but was swatted a moment later by a pillow at the hands of their grandfather.

"No..." Illumi moaned under the sheets.

"Get up," his grandfather said, and, pointing dangerously at Killua, added, "You too. We have to meet Gon before the match and meet Meruem at the destination."

"Can't the match just happen here?" Illumi said, flopping his arms over the sheets and exposing all of his bedhead to the world.

"No it cannot," his grandfather said. He yanked Illumi's leg through the comforter. "Now—up."

They packed up their things and left shortly thereafter. Anxiety thrummed at the base of Killua's throat as he shut the door behind them and followed after his grandfather.

Only, his grandfather had stopped just outside the door to ruffle Killua's hair.

"Did you take a shower?" his grandfather said.

Killua wasn't fast enough. At his grandfather's scowl, Killua said, "I was nervous."

"You told him the plan already, didn't you." At Killua's ducked head, his grandfather ruffled his hair again. "Though that doesn't explain your wet hair. I won't ask questions."

Killua bristled, indignant, and hurried after his grandfather to explain the pool in great detail—so much detail, in fact, that he left little else to his grandfather's imagination.

He'd done everything he could to prepare Gon—granted, with ample poolside distractions—but hoped that Gon's base-level knowledge of the game would be enough for Gon to improvise upon.

Killua had grown to anticipate most structural changes upon turning a corner. Where he had once stumbled upon Gon's swimming pool, he now found the wall usually adorned with stained glass windows pushed away and replaced by a railing overlooking an atrium.

"Whoa," Illumi breathed, eyes going skyward.

Killua followed his attention to a ceiling layered by rings of statues ascending into a vaulted dome. The outer ring—a tumultuous ocean faired by sunken ships and drowned people, sea creatures—toward a central point within a disk of mountains spiraling toward each Narakas.

"Purgatory," their grandfather said. Illumi and Killua had stopped walking. "The Buddhists believe Hell isn't eternal. As each layer progresses, a lifetime magnifies eight times over."

Killua counted the rings. "Sixteen."

"Exactly. And you'll notice the deeper eight look more familiar to Christian theology. Hellfire."