A War Worth Fighting |DISCONTINUED|

Chapter 12: Does It Get Easier?

    5010 words.

   Something about this 'coronation' bothered Gon. The question is, did he not trust the Kakin Empire? Or was it those attending? It's evident that Killua is wary. Gon side glances across the room, his gaze tracing the former assassin stash steely daggers and bundles of malerite into his backpack. The druid hesitated, "Killua?"

   Not looking away from putting on his boots, Killua hummed a questioning response.

   "Something isn't..." Something isn't right, but Killua would call him a blockhead if he admitted it was no more than a gut feeling. "Is- er..."

   Killua huffed, stomping his foot, and glaring at the druid, "Gon, just spit it out!"

   "Something isn't right!"

   The mage rolled his eyes, "Let me guess, another one of your feelings?" He sighed, "hurry up and get packed, blockhead."

   "Hmph," Gon pouted, turning his back on Killua and leaving the bedroom. Grumpy meanie. What's wrong with relying on feeling, anyway?!

   He perked upon seeing Alluka leave her bedroom, humming a nursery rhyme perhaps? She tied her hair into a slick ponytail, silver infused with mana dripped akin to raindrops down her silken, transparent cloak. Everything: a dark violet. A pristine headband shaped like moonlilies glistened along with her draping earrings, and her wrist armor swirled ribbons in a hypnotic motion. So this is what a mage looks like. "Alluka's wearing her battle gear?" Gon asked.

   "Yes, I have a feeling we'll run into some trouble, so it's better to be safe than sorry."

   "...Yeah," Gon responds. Alluka senses it, too.

   "Nanika, I'm ready!" She calls to the bedroom behind her.

   A shadowy figure wisps behind her, enveloping Alluka in darkness. Gon watched in shock and mild horror. A spawn from the void, right there, in front of him. Shivers rippled down his spine as a terrifying aura crept around the living room. Suddenly, as if someone funneled poisonous gas with a vacuum, Alluka reappeared with a smile, taunting whispers silencing.

   Killua slammed the door open, bristling, "Alluka, what did I say about merging with Nanika in this house! It alerts others within a ten-mile radius!"

   Gon frowned. Killua mentioned the problematic birth of the Zoldyck Twins. Something unknown to this day occurred at the time of her birth. It's assumed a cultist cursed Nanika mere hours post-birth. Nanika and Alluka had the power to merge, but at first, it wasn't by will. The shadow caster has the infinite power of controlling the void, the essence of darkness itself. It became possibly the only thing the Zoldyck Family truly feared.

   Gon lowed his gaze on the frost mage before him. Mito always told stories of the two girls locked beneath the mansion for years in solitary confinement. I guess they all understood the dread of loneliness and the unquenchable urge for adventure, action. Alluka and Gon were more alike in that way. She knew what it was like to have too much time on her hands-- too much time to wish or dream. And everything changed with Killua; Gon couldn't be happier. His goal may have changed, but he still has a wish, a dream; a goal.

   His thoughts are interrupted by someone putting his tawny, leather cloak-- the cloak that Killua gave to him the first day they met-- on his shoulders. Pale, slender fingers clasped it around the druid's neck, fingers he knew all too well, fingers capable of so much destruction, so much kindness, and love. Gon's heart warmed.

   "I know a few people to get you some better gear when we arrive," Killua's soothing voice arose in a soft, fleeting whisper. Gon's skin prickled, and he wondered when Killua began to have that effect on him. Perhaps it was when he first laid eyes on him-- Gon wouldn't be surprised.