Kurapika approached his cabin. He hoped Hisoka wasn't in there again. God, he'd have to check under the bed, in the closet, in the vents—

"Long time no see," said another voice. A figure leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

Kurapika froze. Words deserted him.

"I missed you!" Leorio flung himself at Kurapika, wrapping his arms around him.

Kurapika was too stunned to return the hug. His mind churned ahead. He had to think. He had to—"How did you get up here?"

"Mizaistom," Leorio chattered, pulling back.

If he let Leorio up… and between that, and Chrollo—if others got up here—Kurapika's thoughts tumbled ahead and he couldn't catch them. Oito was in terrible danger. They all could be. There were so many loopholes, so many—

Leorio exhaled. "You're not happy."

"I'm a bodyguard," Kurapika retorted. "I have to—constantly be thinking about dangers to my client." He unlocked the door, leaving it open for Leorio. A quick scan revealed no obvious signs of an intruder.

Leorio shut the door behind him. "Kurapika, it's been too long."

"I know," said Kurapika. He sat on the edge of his bed, squeezing his hands.

"Are you trying to help the queen and prince escape?"

Kurapika's head snapped up. He glared at Leorio. "People could be—" He stopped himself.

"Ah." Leorio heaved himself down next to him. "It's a conundrum, isn't it? I still can't wrap my mind around what kind of father would want his children trying to kill each other all for a fancy chair."

"And a ton of power," Kurapika pointed out.

"Ach, blah. Who cares? If everyone you care about and who cares about you is dead."

Kurapika hunched over. Leorio had about as much subtlety as a bulldozer. "I'm not going to let anything happen to that baby. Or her mother."

"Hmph." Leorio rubbed his chin. "How can I help?"

Kurapika started. He looked at his friend. "You can't."

"Don't pull that."

"You can't," Kurapika insisted, squeezing his hands together. "You really can't."

"Kurapika—"

"The Spiders are on board," Kurapika blurted out. Anything to dangle in front of Leorio, distract him, like the shitty person Kurapika was. "All of them. And two of them are Killua's brothers. New members."

"Let me guess. The one we met who's dead inside and the little one." Leorio groaned. "Kurapika, please tell me you're not going to go after them."

"I only want to protect Oito and Woble."

Leorio was quiet. Their breaths filled the air. "And?"

"And get the eyes." Kurapika exhaled. "From Prince Tserriednich."

Leorio sighed. "How can I help?"

Kurapika gritted his teeth. "You can't."

"Well, I'm—"

"You can't!" Kurapika exploded. He leaped to his feet. "You can't, you can't, you can't! Don't even bother trying, Leorio! Why—why would you even bother—"

Leorio jumped up, fists tightening. His face tightened in fury. "Because Melody asked me to? And because you're my goddamn friend, whether you remember it or not, so get that through your thick skull!"

"So what?" Kurapika eked out. The stupid clock on the wall merrily chipped seconds off of the world. "Leorio, I—don't want you to get hurt." He lowered his head. "Please. Please. I couldn't live with myself if—you or—like what happened to Gon and Killua in Yorknew—"

Leorio groaned. He scratched his head. "Well, you avoiding them doesn't seem to be making them any safer, considering Gon's state after the ant incident. Or making it any easier to live with yourself, but that's neither here nor there."

"You don't understand," Kurapika said again. I'm—toxic. He was a whirlpool, sucking anyone who got to close in, and drowning them. He could not let that happen. "If I—if I do need your help—I'll contact you."

Leorio tossed his phone from hand to hand. "The problem with you saying that is that I'm imagining you bleeding out and calling me as you're dying and, no offense, Kurapika, but I really don't want that."

Kurapika snorted. "You think you could save me?" You can't. You can't. He had a limited amount of time left. And he had no idea how long that was. Probably decades and decades, but still. Less than he was written.

I did this to myself. And he couldn't regret it. He wouldn't, so long as he got all the Scarlet Eyes. They'd be proud of him. He could bury Pairo. His parents.

"I'm blood type O. Universal donor. You're AB, so yeah, I think I could."

Kurapika had to laugh. "Med school is good for you."

Leorio ran his hand through his hair. "So if you need a doctor…"

"You'll be the first person I call." Kurapika tossed him a smile. "And we can even pay."

Leorio… if he'd been a doctor when Pairo was young, he would have helped him. But the past couldn't be fixed, shuffled around and remixed. It was stuck.

"Remember when we met on a boat?" Leorio asked.

Kurapika actually laughed. "Everyone got seasick. Except you, me, and Gon."

"And then we got in a fistfight."

Kurapika winced. "And someone almost died because we were too busy hating each other."

"Sounds familiar," Leorio mused, and Kurapika's stomach turned to ice.

"I said I'm not chasing the Spiders this time." Though Chrollo did happen to just—come to him.

Leorio squeezed Kurapika's shoulder. "I know." He backed up, a wobbly smile on his face. "Good to see you, Kurapika. Take care of yourself, please."

Kurapika's chest ached. "I'll do my best." Leorio couldn't know about Emperor Time, but he knew something was up, didn't he?

Kurapika dropped onto his bed after the door shut, pressing his face into his knees. I miss you. He missed Leorio, Gon, and Killua. They were his friends.

I miss you.

He felt so lonely.

"Well, well," said a voice from the bathroom. "Someone's an absolutely terrible friend."

Kurapika shrieked. He jumped up, aiming his chains. Hisoka held up his cards, grinning at him as he emerged from the restroom. "Are you hiding out in my room now? Permanently? I'd really rather you didn't; I don't want Oito endangered—"

"I don't give a damn what you'd rather or rather not," Hisoka responded, leaning against the door frame.

"Maybe I'll kill you before Chrollo can."

"I'd like to see you try, but we both know you won't."

Kurapika fell silent. His chest rose and fell. He didn't know what to say. "Please leave."

"I'm leaving, don't worry. But I must say, Kurapika, it's so interesting to see how far you've fallen, isn't it? From one of the ones who would do anything for his friends during the Hunter Exam—or, well, was that even the case? Or did you just like to use them because they were useful to you? That's how it's always been for Illumi and me, after all. Sounds familiar."

Kurapika glowered. "They are my friends." His voice shook. "I don't want them to get hurt!"

"You're a complete idiot," said Hisoka. "Man, the Kurta tribe is doomed with you as the only survivor. You and your one brain cell."

"Excuse me?" Kurapika shouted. He grabbed a book and hurled it at Hisoka, who caught it. "You idiot!"

"Well, call yourself that." Hisoka tossed the book back at him. "Although, I must say, seeing you arrive at the same place is somehow less exhilarating than I thought it would be. You've met death, too. You court it."

Kurapika's eyes widened. He couldn't know. He couldn't know. No one could.

"Ah," crooned Hisoka, covering his mouth with a card. "So I am right."

"How—"

"Your power is too strong not to be bound to something. You're not that naturally gifted, sorry."

Kurapika contemplated breaking his nose. "You're pathetic. Get out."

"Just one more question," said Hisoka, leaning against the door jamb now, hand on the handle. "Would you be interested in being a better friend, Kurapika? To Gon, Leorio, and Killua? Well, really just to Killua, but since they seem to still be affected by what happens to each other, unlike you, I—"

"Are you threatening them?" Kurapika demanded. Fuck that. He would use Emperor Time to kill this clown if he was—

"On the contrary." Hisoka's eyes darkened. He stepped closer to Kurapika. "I have a suggestion for how you can help them."

"And what's the price?" Kurapika demanded. Hisoka had no goodness in his heart to make such an offer.

"There is none," said Hisoka. "Actually, I suppose, there is. It's just that you do it."

Kurapika pressed his lips together. He didn't follow. What could be so important? Still… "Okay."


"And who might these be, Queen Oito?"

Chrollo halted behind the queen. Phinks was still shiny-eyed, gaping at her. Chrollo was not going to wipe up drool. Nobunaga looked as if he was contemplating sending Phinks for a swim in the ocean. He might need it to cool down.

"Prince Tserriednich." Oito turned and nodded at the man, stringy hair hanging around his face. The man gave them a grin. His lips looked like twisted, fat worms.

"I asked you a question."

"She's not beholden to answer you, now is she?" responded Phinks. Nobunaga stepped on his foot. Chrollo bit back a smile.

"They are my bodyguards," Oito responded. The wind whipped her hair around her face. She tucked it behind her ears.

"They don't look familiar."

"Yes, well, that's hardly surprising," stated Oito.

Tserriednich shrugged. "Where's your daughter? With that blond bodyguard?"

Chrollo instantly decided that he did not like this man. He did not like his hair, he did not like his robes, he did not like his stone-cold eyes.

"Perhaps," Oito said. "She's safe."

Chrollo contemplated using Indoor Fish on the man. It would certainly take care of part of the Succession Contest. Still, he did not want to fill a coffin himself.

"Have a good night." Tserriednich lowered his head, stalking off towards a blond woman who watched with a furrowed brow. Two other girls, giggling and scantily clad, followed.

Oh, so he's that sort. Chrollo had grown up seeing that type in Meteor City. People who would desperately scrabble for any hold of power they had, because they couldn't accept that they were just a blot on the world's pages. They, the Spiders, they banded together for the first time in Meteor City to take down one of those syndicates. They stole all the pimps' money and freed the people. It felt good, as did getting all the money. And afterwards Chrollo found himself looking at all those faces, some he'd known for years—like Pakunoda and Phinks—and some they'd just recruited for this job, like Feitan and Machi, and he knew he found people he could trust. People determined to carry out the same kind of legacy he wanted to.

The poorest of the poor were no different than the richest of the rich.

And this was the man they wanted to rob, after all the business with Hisoka was settled. Chrollo shook his head. He couldn't forget to do that. This man, should he ever survive, needed to be taken down a peg, reminded he was not invincible.

"Woble cried the moment she met him," Oito remarked. "She was terrified."

Why on earth do you trust your infant daughter? Chrollo didn't understand.

"She doesn't trust many people," Oito mused. "You're only the third, after myself and Kurapika."

I hate to tell you, but your child is wrong. Chrollo bit his lip. Unless perhaps Woble's abilities were more about who was a direct risk to her.

Meanwhile, Nobunaga was trying not to have a conniption at the mention of Kurapika's name, and Phinks squeezed his shoulder as if to threaten to break it.

"I am not lying exactly," said Oito, pausing and looking up at the black sky. No stars were visible, and the wind picked up. A storm was very, very close. "I could use—more help. I know you're looking to rob Tserriednich. I cannot care what you do. All I care about is getting myself and my daughter off this ship. My daughter, really. I would like to come with her, but if I can't—" She wrung her dress.

Chrollo had a hard time understanding. He really couldn't fathom a mother be willing to give anything for her child. No one could afford to be that way in Meteor City. It was everyone for themselves. Love was only a means to an end, children were a comfort blanket until it grew too hot, and they were discarded.

"Careful," Pakunoda said when she found Chrollo shivering and scratching at his lice-ridden scalp. "You scratch too much and you'll get an infection, and no one will help you."

She poured kerosene on his hair, combing the dumb suffocating bugs out with a gentle touch.

Bring everyone, he'd thought, and she brought only herself, and at that moment he knew what she was going to do and he was powerless to stop her. But it was her choice. He comforted himself with that fact.

It was still the last time he ever saw Paku alive.

Chrollo glanced at Phinks and Nobunaga. "We're in a bit of a pinch ourselves—we're trying to locate someone."

"My bodyguard can locate anyone," said Oito.

Oh, can he? Nobunaga was practically choking. His face swelled purple.

"Besides," Oito continued. "It would give you access to tiers you do not have access to, and should you have time to take Tserriednich's fortune, well, it'll be easier from here."

Phinks looked as if he'd been struck by Cupid and Chrollo contemplated smacking him over the head with Bandit's Secret.

"I'm afraid your bodyguard and I have a past," Chrollo said pleasantly. "We do not get along."

Oito arched her eyebrows. "Well, I am sure he will come around."

Actually, I kind of killed his family and lead a group of thieves I'm sure you've heard of. I also recently blew up a bunch of people including kids in Heaven's Arena and I'm trying to chase the guy who I killed then but who is surprise! Alive after all and also he would have no qualms about killing you or your daughter.

"Sure," said Chrollo, and Nobunaga about had a seizure.

Oito led them into her cabin, sending a text with her phone. She found her daughter sleeping and gathered her in her arms, the maids scattering. The baby cooed, reaching for Chrollo.

Chrollo swallowed. I have no idea what to do with it. He took the infant. Phinks looked almost jealous.

The door opened again. "Queen Oito?" Kurapika stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hello, Kurapika," said Chrollo. The baby was a useful shield. Almost instantly, Woble started crying. Phinks moved in to take her, and she calmed down.

Kurapika's face turned redder than his eyes ever could. "Oito—"

"Relax, Kurapika," said Oito. "I caught them sneaking around Nasubi's cabin."

"I can have them arrested," Kurapika offered sweetly.

"I'd rather we came to an arrangement," said Oito. "They aren't trustworthy with anything, I get that, but Woble trusts them not to be a threat on her life. But they're clearly talented thieves, and skilled at getting in and out of places. We could—come to an accord."

You really don't want to die. And

You know who we are. Phinks looked ashamed. Nobunaga gaped.

You're that desperate. For her. Chrollo looked at the baby.

"Kurapika," tried Oito. "I—please."

Kurapika gritted his teeth. He yanked out his chains. Chrollo conjured his book.

"This is my dowsing chain," Kurapika said. "It can tell whether or not you're lying." He looked directly at Chrollo. "What are your objectives on this ship?"

Curious. The Chain Bastard's abilities continued to fascinate him. "To find Hisoka Morow before he kills any more of my troupe," Chrollo responded.

"And do you have plans to betray the queen and the prince?"

"No." Chrollo watched in fascination. What a power to have. The chain stayed still.

"Do you swear that even if you were to be offered Hisoka's location in exchange for betraying Otio and Woble, you won't do so?"

"Sure." The chain stayed put. Kurapika scowled. He asked the same questions of Phinks, and Nobunaga. Nobunaga sounded as if his tongue was chopped in two, but he answered.

"May I speak with you alone?" Kurapika lasered his gaze on Chrollo.

"Certainly." Chrollo followed Kurapika out into the hallway. It echoed with their footsteps, their breaths. They rounded the corner, took a left, a right. Kurapika shoved open an empty room and then slammed him into the wall, elbow jabbed into his throat.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" Kurapika snarled. "Now she'll be in danger from Hisoka—"

"We'll get him before—"

"Oh, sure—"

"You—"

"It's your fault, you know!" Kurapika glared at him, removing his arm. Chrollo sucked in air. "It's your fault Hisoka is after you. You killed dozens of people because you are a selfish man who only cares about power and the next thing you can get your grubby hands on!"

"My hands are always clean, thank you."

Kurapika struck him across the face. Chrollo sent him flying across the room with Bandit's Secret.

"If you're so worried," Chrollo taunted. "Help us find Hisoka with one of your chains." And also help me get closer to stealing your power, because I would love those chains. "I heard you can do that."

Kurapika glowered. He had to be wearing contacts. There was no other explanation for them not being blood red right now. "He was in my room earlier today."

Chrollo started. "Oh, so it's like that, is it?"

"The fuck?" yelped Kurapika. "Thanks for assuming I'm disgusting like that!"

"It's perfectly normal for two adults to—"

"He and I—no! You're disgusting!"

It was fun getting a rise out of the Chain Bastard. Chrollo smirked. "So sex is disgusting, but murder is fine. For an obvious virgin you sure have a stick up your ass."

"You—"

Something damp and cold washed over Chrollo. Outside, thunder cracked. He doubled over, struggling to breathe. "What—are you—"

Kurapika doubled over as well, gagging. His eyes widened when he saw Chrollo in the same boat.

It isn't you.

And it isn't me.

What's happening?


Up next: Chrollo and Kurapika aren't doing well in their Get Along room and Hisoka and Illumi confront each other.