Meta-X-Hunter

Prologue: Next life? X Lucid Dreams x Reality

"Hey, what do you want to be in your next life?"

"Uh. . . What do you want to be?"

"In my next life. . . I want to be me and meet you again!"

"Idiot! Don't say things like that, they're embarrassing!"

He thought a dream of it all, maybe he had fallen asleep somewhere between traveling with his sister. The events beyond the following morning were just part of it.

He didn't leave Alluka under the care of Kite, he didn't encounter Gon after who cared how long and went off for another adventure. They didn't involve themselves fighting a loosing battle.

They didn't die.

They couldn't have, he was back home after all. Falling into routine again with his daily training schedule, accompanied by the occasional poison intake

Yes, maybe everything had been a dream.

Meeting Gon had been a dream. Escaping with Alluka and his own stunt of rebellion against his parents had been but a wistful hallucination. Each day after falling into a dreamless sleep, the lucid space would change, morph into his own little world.

A world where there was someone who didn't care about status, talent or efficiency. One of adventures, laughter and obstacles to overcome.

The more he thought about it, the less realistic it seemed and the more appealing it became. To be back at that place; a place where he had friends to rely on, where he was free of restraints but his own. Where Alluka was away from her imprisonment- somewhere Gon existed.

Gon

His chest would squeeze in pain at the name, nails digging into his palm as his throat went dry over the fading memory of a smile. His smile. They had gone through enough adventures to last a life time -he would had chuckled at his own joke were it not for a sob threatening to come out- had tackled a myriad of hurdles. They were of the few to stop a plague and survive, even if not unscathed.

Not for the first time, he dared to hope against the world before his eyes. Just as he learnt by his side. The only real difference being this sliver of hope laid bare of foundation. There were no columns to support himself with, no base theory beyond the constant sensation of deja'vu slithering through his mind.

Killua retraced passing days steps as in a trance, his guiding light told by a varying sense of recognition deep within.

It was but a countdown to insanity.

"Is something wrong, Kil?"

Even with a casual shrug and a denial done with practiced ease, the fact Illumi had noticed him staring was enough to make him pause, to hesitate. He was sure Illumi noticed too.

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Why do you care?"

"You're my brother"

"You stopped being my brother the moment you threatened Alluka"

This time it was thev elder of the two to remain silent, halting. Killua watched in mild fascination as the gears behind his oldest sibling's blank expression continued to turn, and turn, and turn. . . . And Instead of the tense atmosphere he had expected, incomprehensible silence echoed back.

"Alluka" his brother repeated, as if the foreign word had not registered as name and the scowl on his face vanished. Hues colored by the sea opening wide, giving his brother a look of disbelief.

Blood boiled under his skin like blazing fire. How dare he? To not treat her like family was one thing, to forget her entire existence. . .

"You-!"

He didn't get to complete his sentence. The instant later he was now staring onto his brother's retreating back, walking with haste away from the room "Aniki-"

"I'll tell Father to give you a break"

'What is that supposed to mean?!' The words died in his mouth as the other spoke aloud. Unbeknownst to the elder, shattering every semblance of hope he held onto.

"After all, if you're having hallucinations this early into training, your schedule isn't as balanced as we thought"

'Was it all an hallucination?'

A/N: Thank you for all the favorites! uvu Sorry this isn't really an update, but I didn't load the correct chapter, aha. . . Guess doing things midway to dreamland isn't very reliable, huh? I would like it if you'd review. Right now this is just the setting, I changed a thing or two, so you should maybe read it again. The difference isn't much at first glance, but if you think about it, the variant is much more important.

Thanks for reading!