I'm not really sure where I'm going with this but hope you enjoy anyway ^_^
Also apparently my dividers between sections are spelt wrong...? If there are any other errors please do let me know!
A formidable and dreadful enemy he had been, the Ant King Meruem had still been granted a final resting place. There he was buried side by side with Komugi and the other royal guards, who all lay in adjacent graves in which they were to find their eternal rest.
As enemies of the association, granting the ants graves had been something of a reluctant concession on the part of the hunters – some saw this as a dishonour to the previous chairman's name, he who had laid down his life to bring an end to the Ant King, but in the end it had been decided to lay the corpses to rest as an act of closure to a sad and terrible chapter in the history of mankind - however one hunter in particular had taken things a step further.
Knuckle had been extremely aggrieved by Netero's sacrifice but he also acknowledged the fact they had all been determined to give up their lives to win the battle and stop the ants from bringing a massacre of destruction and ruin to the rest of humanity. Netero had always fought with honour and Knuckle believed in honouring even dead enemies. Thus he was the sole figure to on occasion make the trip to the graves of Komugi and the Royal Guards with flowers, lighting the incense and even placing his hands together in a small prayer. Even if they were once his enemies, no good ever came of dishonouring the dead and in his heart Knuckle couldn't help harbour a small spark of admiration the loyalty the guards and the girl had shown the king.
As a result, it was Knuckle who upon one of his trips to the graves came across the open, empty grave of the king. Not a foot away from the freshly upturned earth sat the king himself, plastered with a layer of his own blood, peppered with a dusting of soil.
Knuckle froze in his tracks, dropping the flowers in his arms and leaping backwards. The king turned his gaze upon him but did not budge an inch.
How could he not have noticed?! He should have felt an aura like the kings from miles away-
And then it struck Knuckle – even at this distance he could hardly sense the king's aura. There he sat but mere meters away and yet only a faint whisper of his aura reached Knuckle. It was at this point Knuckle began to truly examine the form of the king.
He wasn't merely bloodied and dirty; the bluish tinge covering him was not just from the external coating of blood but the blood still inside his body. It was as if he were bruised from head to toe.
The tips if his fingers, toes and tail, as well as the skin below his eyes were particularly dark and his body was trembling with the sheer effort of struggling for breath. His breathes came in short sharp gasps wracking his entire body – were he completely uninjured he would still be in little position to make an attack while breathing alone required such a great deal of effort.
Slowly Knuckle began to steady his nerves. It had been such a shock to see the king alive beside his own empty grave that Knuckle had missed the obvious fact he was clearly still scarcely a breath away from death. Still he approached with caution; this had been the enemy that had forced Netero to use the rose.
"Oi, King of the Ants," Knuckled called out to him. The king had returned his gaze to the pristine grave in front of him but once again glanced in Knuckles direction.
His eyes were so blank Knuckled wondered if he could even see at all.
"Meruem," Was the king's short reply. This caught Knuckle of guard – looking at him, he hadn't thought the king even had breathe to speak.
"What-?"
"My name…is Meruem," He was definitely struggling but not enough to significantly impede on his imperious tone.
"These flowers…were they your doing?" He continued before Knuckle could say anything first.
"I…yea, that was me. The reason I came here today was to replace them with fresh ones," Knuckle slowly bent to retrieve the flowers he had dropped in haste of retreating from the resurrected king's proximity.
"I see…what is their significance?" This question also took Knuckle by surprise. Where was the king taking this?
"They show respect for the dead – that's probably not something you'd understand, though," Knuckle added bitterly.
"Why place them…on the graves of…your enemy?" the conversation was beginning to take its toll on the king.
"Again, you wouldn't understand but even enemies deserve respect. Even monsters like you," He was now less than a meter away and wasn't sure he desired to close the distance any further. It seemed the grave the king was looking at was that of Komugi – Knuckle had wondered about her, why had she been there to begin with? But he had more pressing questions on his mind.
"You must really be something, to have survived even the rose,"
"It is … as much a surprise to you… as it is to me. I too thought …that death was upon me,"
"But you survived,"
"Yes…but she did not," Knuckle turned from the grave to the king, eyes wide. Knuckle was not comfortable with this sudden turn of events – it had been enough when Youpi, out of all the guards, had actually acknowledged he and his comrades as warriors to make him unable to see Youpi as an enemy to be taken down but to see the king in this pitiful state mourning that girl, who weak and defenceless and human…weren't humans just prey to the ants?
Knuckle's dilemma had evolved into something even more confounding. He hadn't considered the possibility he could stand a chance at laying a hand on the king when he'd first spotted him out of his grave but now he didn't even want to – but at the same time he could hardly ignore the King of the Chimera Ants just sitting here feet from him.
As if to buy time to process things, Knuckle tentatively began separating up the slim bouquets of flowers in his arms, making ready to place them on the graves as he'd originally come there to do. When the king showed no adverse reaction, Knuckle went ahead and laid the flowers on the guards and Komugi's graves, lit the incense sticks in their little pots and bowed his head in a brief prayer for each.
He was now left standing by his enemies side with one remaining bouquet intended for grave of the very enemy sat at his feet. It was almost tempting to think on what to do with this final bouquet in order to avoid the much greater, more obvious issue at hand.
"So? You have done what…you came here to do," Knuckle looked at the flowers.
"Aren't you going to…return me to my grave?"
"Killua? What's the matter? It sounded like something's up," Gon looked at Killua curiously as Killua ended the call he had just received.
"Yea something's up…Knuckle just asked for some amazing favour…"
"Onii-chan, can I help? I want to help!" Alluka piped up brightly. Killua looked at her a little hesitantly.
"As it happens…"
"Huh?! He's alive?" Gon cried.
"Keep your voice down!" Killua hissed. They had finally reunited after all this time and something insane had to crop up.
"But why does Knuckle want to heal him? He's the enemy,"
"Don't ask me! Of the two of us I'd think you'd be closer to his wavelength of idiocy than me. I just don't get it…"
"Hmm…so are you gonna help him then?" Gon hadn't shown as much of a reaction as Killua had anticipated. He guessed taking out Pitou must have gotten all of that out of his system – a good thing too. Killua never wanted to see Gon like that ever again.
"To be honest, it's not entirely up to me," He glanced at Alluka who beamed back expectantly.
"So I can help?"
"Well, I guess it's Nanika I should be asking, really… do you think Nanika will mind healing someone for our friend?" Killua asked, trying to hint as heavily as he could that refusal was an option.
"Nanika doesn't mind at all! She's happy just to get to help Onii-chan,"
"Isn't that great, Killua?"
"It's not great at all Gon…that Knuckle, what the hell is he thinking?"
The young trio soon arrived at Knuckle's unadorned but modern looking apartment block. After being buzzed in, they made their way into the lift up to his apartment.
"Is this really safe? Isn't that poison supposed to be contagious or something?" Killua asked after they were let in by Knuckle.
"I've been exposed to it for sometime now and I've only just started feeling the effects myself, and even then it's really mild. Maybe it started wearing off over time or the soil absorbed it, I don't really know but it'll definitely be for the best we get rid of it as soon as possible,"
"Wait you've been poisoned?! You really are an idiot!"
"Are you okay?" Gon asked over the end of Killua's cry of indignation.
"Just a little bit of drowsiness, my skin's starting to discolour a little but it's not really started to kick in yet, but we should hurry all the same,"
"Nanika? Come out," Killua said reluctantly. Alluka's eyes and mouth instantly blackened.
"I need you to get rid of the poison in this room, and to heal the king and Knuckle – can you do that?" Killua asked a tad uncertain.
"Aye!"
"Right – Nanika, heal the king and Knuckle and get rid of all the poison!" Killua commanded.
"Hands!" At Nanika's exclamation Killua lead the form of his sister and Knuckle over to the bed the king was lying on. The bruising had worsened and he had fallen unconscious before he had reached the apartment but Knuckle had been carrying him to begin with since he hadn't had the strength to walk on his own.
Nanika took Knuckle and the king's hands and there was a brief flash of nen. As Killua caught Alluka as Nanika fell asleep, it was clear to him it had worked.
The king and Knuckle were both completely restored and as a result the king began to stir. Killua quickly whisked Alluka behind him as they all put as much distance between them and the king as the apartment would allow.
When the king sat up, however, he made no move to attack them.
"Where am I?" He seemed to address Knuckle directly.
"My apartment. I brought you here and asked Killua to get his sister to heal you," The king was at first silent.
"Why?" He asked simply.
"I've been wondering the same thing," Killua muttered flatly.
"Am I not your enemy? Did you leader not sacrifice his life in order that I should be stopped?"
Knuckle didn't respond but looked both guilty and a touch stubborn.
"Well…the thing is…just leaving you half dead by the graves seemed wrong," Knuckled stated with faltering surety. The rest of the room turned and stared at him.
"That's the reason? You're joking right? That can't actually be the only reason you brought him here and had me get Nanika to heal him," Killua narrowed his eyes at Knuckle. Knuckle squirmed a little under his gaze.
"A man's gotta stick by what he feels is right," His pretence of bravado melted under Killua's gaze.
"You're even more of an idiot than him," Killua sighed issuing to Gon.
"You are the one who killed Pitou?" At the king's words the atmosphere in the room shifted. Even Killua made no attempt to hide his wariness. If there was anything that held the slightest possibility of bringing Gon back to how he'd been at the palace, it was this conversation. Killua had quite resolvedly steered clear of the topic but he'd known it would eventually have to be raised.
"I am. Pitou killed someone important to me," Gon replied, his tone was firm but did not contain animosity.
"So it was an act of revenge. What of Youpi and Pouf?"
"We're not sure, but seems like no one touched them – they just went and died on their own,"
"Perhaps they were exposed to the contagious poison emitted by me for too long. That was the case with Komugi," Killua's eyes narrowed. He had known there had been something about the girl. So the king had become attached to her?
"Now that you have healed me, what are your plans for me? Do you expect to keep me prisoner here?" The king gestured at the not nearly spotless apartment. Knuckle once again squirmed where he stood.
"Well? What are we going to do with him?" Killua asked. Gon and Alluka even turned their gazes to him.
"Er… for now he stays here, I'll keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't hurt anyone…" Killua sighed and placed his hand over his face.
"You didn't even plan this far ahead?" Knuckle continued to look uncomfortable.
"Killua has Alluka to look after but I'm free for now, I can help you keep watch over him," Gon volunteered.
"Just what do you think you'd be able to do against him? Even Netero was forced to blow him to hell and even that didn't kill him. We all had to wait for him to succumb to the poison and even after we buried him he's still alive," Killua shot at Gon, jabbing his forehead brusquely.
"I won't have it! This was my decision, I've involved you two enough as it is! I'll take care of things myself," Knuckle announced. Killua looked at him scathingly.
"It's a bit late to be thinking about responsibility now. Man, if the Association ever finds out…" At this even Gon's grin faltered.
"We'll just have to make sure they don't find out – that means you and Nanika need to keep this a secret, right Alluka?"
"Sure!" Alluka replied enthusiastically, although Killua had the feeling she didn't quite understand every implication the situation entailed.
"So am I to understand that you do intend to keep me imprisoned here?" Killua was mildly impressed the king had obediently kept quiet and allowed them all to babble for so long.
"That's right, until further notice you're to live here. This is my place so you'll need to follow my rules, got that?"
Uwa…real idiocy is impressive, frankly it's almost scary Killua thought.
"Me, Gon and Alluka still need to find a place for the night – and no we're not staying here, I'm not having Alluka around that monster any longer than necessary," Killua added when Knuckle opened his mouth valiantly.
"Will you be alright on your own?" Gon asked Knuckle.
"Like I already said, what help do you think you're going to be? Come on, he's not dead yet, he'll be fine – and if he's not he brought it on himself," Killua marched Alluka and Gon out of the door, the pair both waving their farewell.
Knuckle waved back before turning a little hesitantly towards the king. Killua was right, he wasn't dead yet –this fact was actually bothering him nearly as much as the fear of ending up that way.
The king just stared back at him as if he were about to do something mildly entertaining while Knuckle tried to think of way to steer the situation. Come to think of it, he'd given the king an order and he hadn't even blinked at him – actually a part of him wished the king would blink a little more often, he was unnerved enough as is.
"You've been going along with this quite obediently," Knuckle finally said, trying to maintain an air of confidence.
"I wish to atone,"
"... huh?"
"I have misjudged humans and their potential; I wish to make amends for this error,"
"When you say…amends…what do you mean…more specifically?"
"I shall observe your race from within your society. I shall garner more information and details about you humans and greater increase my understanding of your kind,"
"What are you going to do once you've …gathered enough information and …increased your understanding …sufficiently?" Knuckle tried.
"That will depend on the results of my observations. I have gravely misjudged your kind and as a result…valuable lives have been lost. I proceed with more caution than before and be more thorough in my investigation,"
Knuckle just stared at the king. His brain was struggling with this information – it didn't know what to make of it, how to process it, how to react to it…valuable lives? Since when had human lives been valuable to-
Knuckles eyes widened - the girl!
He was talking about some past errors in observing humans – that's why the girl had been there, she had held some sort of curiosity, something about her made the king change his view of humans from lowly cattle to valuable lives. He'd decided humans shouldn't be killed – there was reason to spare them, it had been just like when Youpi had decided to spare him and his comrades.
Knuckle's attention returned to the Ant King sat before him on his bed and suddenly thought – where is he going to sleep? They do sleep, right? Come to think of it, his knowledge about the Chimera ants aside from their combat weaknesses and strengths was rather lacking.
This was to be a learning experience for them both.