A Deal with the Devil (Silva Zoldyck)

Part 1

Silva Zoldyck did not live for many reasons and sad as it was his main one was killing, he was after all an assassin. That was why lying in the forest dying didn't really surprise him. It didn't come as a big surprise that someone was out to get him, he had probably killed someone close to them or they were assassins that had been paid to kill him.

He hoped it was the latter, he was not at all a believer in revenge, why kill if not for money?

He knew he could have taken them if not for the fact that he had been exhausted and they had taken him by surprise, it wasn't just ego taking. He knew how strong he was - even at eighteen - and they would not have had a chance in hell, if they hadn't taken him by surprise, but they had. They had then done a thing even he wouldn't have done - unless there was a great deal of extra money involved – and left him to slowly bleed out on the grass.

He knew he didn't have long and had actually considered cutting his own throat just to make it go faster, but suicide didn't really appeal to him either, so he was just lying there considering his options when he heard a rustling in the trees above him.

He forced his eyes to focus on the trees above, it had sounded to big to be a squirrel or a bird, it might have been his attackers back to see if he was still alive so they could gloat some more.

What he saw surprised him, it was a young girl sitting in the three looking at him like he was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen, what was truly surprising about her was her eyes, they were bright yellow with slitted pupils, they kind of reminded him of a cats eyes.

"Why are you lying there?" she asked, in a very light and sweet voice.

"I'm dying" Silva answered back.

"Ohh, why are you dying?"

"I was attacked"

"I see. Do you want to live?" she asked, looking like the answer was very important.

Silva looked at her for a moment before answering. "Yes"

"I can make sure you don't die, but you have to give me something in exchange otherwise it won't work"

"Why?"

"I don't know, it is just the way it is"

"What do you want for helping me" Silva asked looking at her very intently.

She jumped down and landed gracefully in front of him. Her clothes – if you could call the rags she was wearing that – where dirty and old and barely covered her. From what he could see she was also cowered in scars. She wasn't all that tall either about 150 cm heigh and with long red tangled hair that looked like it had been some time since it was last brushed.

"I want a home" she answered, looking him straight in the eyes.

"What is your definition of a home" Silva asked, he could tell by the hunger in her gaze when she had said home that she didn't mean a building, but a special place, now he just had to figure out what that meant.

"A place where people aren't afraid of me and what I can do, a place where my eyes doesn't scare people, but most importantly a place to belong"

There was a deep well of sadness and hope in her voice, he could hear that she was close to breaking and for some reason he did not want her to break. He had seen it before, people being rejected for so long that they simply gave up and she was close to doing just that. After thinking it over he came to a decision.

"You can come to my home and I can guarantee that there will be no one who will scorn you for either your powers or your eyes, but I must warn you we are quite an unique family our occupation is assassination"

Her eyes lit up at his offer and he couldn't see even the slightest flinch or wariness at the mention of the families occupation. Her next words confirmed that.

"I have no problem with killings of any kind, why is it wrong to kill a human but not to kill a cow, I have never seen the difference, but I have to warn you if you strike a deal with me and you break it the consequence will be not only on you, but that of your home too and I have no power to stop it. Once the deal is made it is out of my hands, but I can tell you that you will gain more than just a healing, how much more I don't know" she cast her gaze down with obvious nerves afraid he wouldn't accept.

He thought about it for a moment, thought about what she wanted and what he would gain and the risk.

"We have a deal" as soon as the words left his mouth he felt power a powerful nen surround her and her eyes started to glow.

"The deal is accepted" she said in an almost mechanical voice.

Silva felt nen surround him, it started to seep into his skin until it almost filled and consumed him. It was healing him and making him stronger, but also changing him on a fundamental level.

Far away on Kukuroo Mountain, both Maha and Zeno Zoldyck could feel the nen surging through them – through not as great as the surge through Silva – and could feel the changes, Maha and Zeno both felt younger than they had end many years and they both felt some of the power and vitality that had begun to wane in their later years return. They both lifted their heads and looked at each other.

Zeno was the first to voice their thoughts.

"Silva should be home by now"

Back in the forest.

Silva awoke a couple of hours late with a new feeling of strength and health, nothing hurt. When he stood up he found the that he moved with a new found fluidity and speed, it seemed that the young girl had more than just healed him, he could feel a new change in himself, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. As his thoughts went to the young girl he looked around to find her, she laid passed out not far from him, he hurried to her side to make sure she was alright. After a hurried examination he concluded that she had passed out from the exertion of to much nen.

He lifted her op in his arms and turned to make his way home to Kukuroo Mountain.