title: horizon.
summary: Because for Canary, Meteor City still breathed inside her veins and sang in her blood.
pairing: canary x killua
chapter: 2. vis major (a natural and unavoidable catastrophe that interrupts the expected course of events.)
disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter.
.
.
.
Canary cried out in pain as her entire body collided heavily with the solid trunk of a tree, the rough bark scratching at her arms and legs. Stunned, she slid to the ground, fingers convulsing around her staff as she struggled to regain her breath.
She swallowed with immense effort, her body screaming, and stumbled to her feet.
"Again," Hishita told her disapprovingly. "Pay attention this time."
She wheezed. Her limbs were shaking, and they burned so fiercely that for a moment Canary was afraid she'd collapse, just from the sheer exertion of it.
"You're fast, and you know how to use your size to your advantage," Hishita told her. Across the clearing, he folded his arms, and leveled a sharp frown at her. "But as a new butler you lack stamina. It looks like the weights from the butler mansion aren't enough. From now on, you need to run from the gate of the estate to the butler mansion ten times every morning."
The estate was huge. It covered the entire mountain. Even the distance from the estate gate to the butler mansion, Canary knew, would not be an easy feat.
She set her jaw, raised her staff, and nodded.
.
.
.
.
"Tired?"
A plate of food was set down in front of her, and Canary could only nod, still breathing hard from her run. Stamina problems, she thought derisively, with an edge of bitterness.
She wasn't that lacking in endurance. The first few back-and-forths had been easy. She had only gotten tired around the sixth lap, but by the seventh she had developed a strange looseness in her legs that frightened her. By the tenth lap, she had the terrified feeling that if she stopped moving, her legs would give out from under her, and she would collapse embarrassingly in the doorway. It didn't help that she knew Hishita was watching, and occasionally Gotoh. Even if she had given any indication that she knew they were there, she doubted that the other butlers truly understood how clearly she could feel them.
But it did make sense. They weren't trying to hide their presences, after all - just their bodies. Canary had felt them, yes, but she hadn't seen or heard a single thing. It was both unnerving and yet expected.
Hishita felt like sandpaper. And Gotoh...Gotoh was crisp linen and cracked stone.
Hilda, the cook, gave her a sympathetic look. Canary flushed, embarrassed, and leaned over her plate, brushing away her heavy hair. Her muscles ached in an unfamiliar way; they stung, and she winced when she moved.
"Oh, it's a horridly brutal regimen," Hilda told her, frowning with worry, "and you are so young, dear. But don't worry. Everyone says you show fantastic progress, so eat up. It's very rare to have new apprentice butlers, you see. It's a rather dangerous vocation."
Right. Canary could only nod, her breaths now coming in slightly more controlled puffs. "Hilda-san," she said, glancing up at the rotund, red-haired cook, "what happened to the butlers before me? Who did I replace?"
Something crossed over Hilda's features then, something unexpectedly hard and at odds with her typically sweet disposition. It smoothed over instantly, however. "Oh, dearie," she said, her expression one of understanding, "a lot of bad things happened with our butlers before you came. I'm afraid we're all a bit jumpy over it. As it is, we're actually a little short on staff."
Canary nodded, and took a drink of her milk. She set the mug down, careful not to let its additional weight cause a loud clack on the table's wooden surface, and looked up at Hilda. "I'm an exception, aren't I?" she asked.
Hilda nodded sagely, and then smiled. "You are indeed an exception, Canary-chan! Gotoh handpicked you; that's enough to earn you an apprentice butler status despite your lack of formal training. On the Zoldyck estate, there are actually several facilities meant to train year after year of Zoldyck butlers. A lot of us, we've trained to be butlers since the beginning."
Hmm. That would explain why Hishita had been pushing her so hard, and why everyone else in the butler mansion greeted her with a sense of courteous curiosity. She had never received the formal, year by year training that most of the other butlers had.
Canary smiled at Hilda, humming thoughtfully, and finished her food.
.
.
One day, she found Killua splayed lazily on top of a tree branch, skateboard propped against the tree beneath him. Canary looked up at him, and bowed.
She hesitated for a moment - one moment - do you wanna be friends? - and then continued on her way.
When she dared turn around, he had disappeared.
.
.
.
"You're better at this than I thought you'd be."
Canary hissed in discomfort. She shifted against the hard wooden chair, leaned her head back, and forced herself to relax.
"Must be a Meteor City thing," she said, her voice slightly strained.
The butler folded her arms. She was tall and slender, with shockingly red hair that despite being tied up into a high ponytail still tumbled nearly to her waist in messy curls. She surveyed Canary with narrowed fox-eyes, and then shrugged.
"No," she said, finally, "not a Meteor City thing. Even if you're from that place, you're handling these poisons surprisingly well. Most people would be passed out by now."
Canary smiled weakly. "My head does feel sort of faint," she admitted, "and sort of dizzy. Do all the butlers have to go through this kind of thing?"
"We're to serve the main household in any way that we can. If we can't even handle at least this much, what use are we to them if we are captured and tortured or something similar?" The female butler plucked the needle out of Canary's arm, fingers deftly handling the syringe as she recapped it. When she placed the syringe back on the table, Canary sat up, wincing slightly at the movement.
The butler stopped her from trying to stand up with a firm hand on her shoulder. Canary swallowed with some difficulty, and leaned back into the chair.
The red-haired butler withdrew, and folded her arms again. She would have been considered beautiful, Canary decided, if perhaps her features were less sharp and her movements less callous. Even with the poison muddling her senses and making it difficult to form words, Canary could still insistently recognize the red-haired butler's presence. Lilies and fox canines. Canary tried not to feel self-conscious under the butler's stare, both calculating and keen.
"...you should feel proud."
Canary blinked, wondering if perhaps the aftereffects of the poison were still acting inside her system. "What?" she said, clumsily.
"You should feel proud," the red-haired butler repeated, and reached for a different syringe. "I'll admit Gotoh has a good eye. You have a lot of potential as a butler."
She flicked off the cap of the syringe with smooth, confident movements, and then stabbed the needle into Canary's arm. Canary resisted the urge to jump.
"You're young, but perceptive. Your body is optimally built for speed but also strength, and your cardiovascular system is much stronger than a normal person. You're also a fast learner, and your body is naturally resistant against poisons and pain. Not to mention the fact that you have an uncanny ability to hide your presence despite knowing where other people are, even if they are far away. Gotoh didn't lie when he said you were impressive."
"He-he doesn't actually think that."
Something akin to a smile appeared on the red-haired butler's face, but it reminded Canary more of a fox baring its teeth into a facsimile of a smile.
"There," the female butler told her, taking the needle from Canary's arm, "I've given you the antidote, so you should be able to function properly and do your assigned training and chores for the rest of the day. Make sure to be here tomorrow at the same time, ok? You're naturally resistant to most poisons, but you're still far behind what the other butlers are capable of withstanding."
Canary nodded, already feeling as if her head was a little clearer from the antidote, and managed to stand out without much difficulty.
"...Thanks," she said, "...?"
"You can call me Remillia," the red-haired butler told her.
.
.
.
.
A few weeks later.
Canary's head spun. She had finished her laps for the day, and her legs were still sore from the days before. Her staff dragged against the ground behind her, leaving a crooked line in the dirt.
Canary breathed deep, relishing in the feeling of air in her lungs. For once, there were no other people watching her.
She yawned softly, just as the prickling of two people nudged at her senses, approaching. One was rough cloth and pumpkin - Zebro-san, and the other she didn't know, but he felt like hewed wood and sandstone.
With a sigh, Canary picked her staff up from the ground, wiping off any dirt that remained on its blunt end. With a prickle of curiosity, she peered down the path - she had been assigned to clean Mike's cage of its bones today, but she wouldn't be able to get in without Zebro's keys. She wondered what could have possible taken Zebro from his usual office.
As the two figures entered her point of view, Canary hastily grasped her staff behind her back, and bowed deeply.
Then she lifted her head, and heard what could have been a shriek of terror.
There was a man that had been walking with Zebro - freshly cut wood and sandstone - the moment he caught sight of her face, he had panicked, throwing his arms up into the air.
"S-sp-spare me! Ueeehhhh!"
Canary blinked in confusion at the tall man who had instantly recoiled at the sight of her, and had dropped to the ground, hand covering his head.
"...ah?" she managed intelligently. Completely baffled, she turned to Zebro, who had a look of faint amusement on his features.
"...y-you don't...remember me?" The man who was prostrating on the ground lifted his head briefly from under a mop of dark hair, tugging at his headband nervously as he glanced up at her.
Canary scrutinized him briefly, before recognizing his face.
"Oh," she said, eyebrows rising, "you."
He'd been one of the men she had knocked down yesterday as they tried to enter the estate. In fact, he had been the first person who had stepped over the line, and she had whacked him mercilessly in the face in retaliation.
She smiled faintly, still a little confused, "how's your nose?"
The man let out a faint gurgle at her words, paled considerably, and then just as quickly, he had scrambled away from her to hide behind Zebro. Limbs shaking profusely, he peered at her from behind Zebro's rotund body.
"Canary-chan," Zebro said amicably, "this is Seaquant-san. He begged for us to spare his life and is now the newest Zoldyck employee. Please treat him well."
"...oh," Canary said, nodding awkwardly. "Um, okay," she bowed to the man who was still cowering behind Zebro, hands clasping around her staff, "Nice to meet you, Seaquant-san. I'm Canary."
There was another choked gurgle of fear from Seaquant.
"Seaquant-san," Zebro said with a hint of warning, "It is true that while you are a servant, and will probably never meet one of the Zoldycks, Canary-chan is training to actually serve the Zoldyck household. However, she is merely an apprentice butler, and a new one at that. I assure you that she will not hurt you."
"Please relax, Seaquant-san," Canary said, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, "While I am sorry our meeting was the way it was, I bear no ill feelings towards you. As we are now both employees of the Zoldyck household, let's do our best and get along?"
There was a muffled whimpering behind Zebro-san, and then Seaquant emerged, pale as a ghost, eyes wide and terrified. He nodded furiously, lips pulled into a forced smile.
"Yeah," he said, his dark scraggly hair bouncing as he nodded with almost panicked vigor, "yeah, g-get al-along, sure."
And then he made an odd choking sound in his throat, and keeled over.
Zebro caught him just as the tall man was about to hit the ground, grimacing. "I'm sorry, Canary-chan. Please understand. Seaquant-san is feeling a little...delicate. I think you scared him a little. You're such a little thing, and you took him out with one hit. He's probably really embarrassed...and also a little terrified."
"Th-that's fine," Canary told him, smiling faintly. She still couldn't quite wrap her mind around the absurdity of the situation. "Zebro-san, I was supposed to clean out Mike's cage today. If it's an inconvenient time for you, shall I come later this afternoon?"
"Not at all, Canary-chan," Zebro replied, and hefted Seaquant easily over one shoulder, frowning slightly. "Mike should be fairly accustomed to your presence by now. Here, have the keys." He fished around in his pockets for a moment, and then drew out a ring of keys. He tossed it at her. Canary caught it with one hand, the keys biting into her palm, and she lifted the ring with some effort. Just like all other servant's possessions, it weighed more than normal.
"It's the largest one, with an X on the back. Off you go then, I have to lug Seaquant back to one of the servant residences."
Canary nodded, and lifted her staff in a short salute, smiling. "Thanks, Zebro-san."
.
.
.
Mike's cell was dark. At the jangle of keys being fitted into the jail cell, two glowing eyes appeared in the darkness, and a low rumble to acknowledge her.
Canary swung open the large gate. With a scraggly shake of his fur, the immense guard dog rose to its feet.
"Good boy, Mike," Canary called, "out you go. I have to clean your cage."
Mike padded out of the large cage, stepping delicately over her, and looked down at her with bright green eyes. He snorted, and his maw opened to reveal sharp canines and a long pink tongue. Then, with another shake of his long fur, he padded off into the forest, every pawstep falling heavily against the ground.
Canary watched him go, and then rubbed the goosebumps away from her arms. He's just a dog, she told herself, and he recognizes you. He won't hurt you.
Then she turned back to the cage, and slipped inside.
.
.
.
"Canary-chan."
The bones clattered from her hands into the disposal bins. Canary paused, and straightened, rolling her shoulders and grimacing at the tight muscles. She turned.
"Zebro-san," she greeted with a smile and a bow, "Has Seaquant-san been taken care of?"
Zebro chuckled, "Yes, he's resting at one of the servant's cabins."'
Canary glanced down at her staff, which she had placed on the ground to free both her hands to get rid of the many skeletons in Mike's cage, before looking back at Zebro. "Is he gonna be okay?"
"Of course," Zebro said, "he'll be fine. We've been fairly short on employees recently, so it's actually a good thing that he's been hired. Don't worry about him, Canary-chan."
There was a moment of awkward silence, and Canary's fingers twisted into the tails of her tailored butler suit. "I put the keys to Mike's cage in your office."
"I'm not here for my keys, Canary-chan, but thank you," he said, and there was something off in his tone that made Canary stiffen. Very slowly, she leaned down and picked up her staff from the ground. Her fingers slid over the polished wood.
"Wh-what is it, then?" she stuttered awkwardly, and rolled her staff nervously between her palms.
Zebro gave her a faintly quizzical, faintly appraising look.
"Killua-sama has gone missing," he said, and Canary would not have been able to, not even with her apprentice training, been able to control the surprised stiffening of her posture.
"K-Killua-sama has - ? What?"
Zebro shrugged, "Of course, he's still on the estate. It seems as if he didn't show up to his training today, and has hidden somewhere on the mountain. The Mistress is getting hysterical."
Her fingers clutched reflexively at her staff, squeezing against the unyielding wood.
Zebro seemed unaware of her growing apprehension, and continued undeterred. "The mistress wants Killua-sama to be found, and quickly. I thought you might be best suited to the job. Can you please find him and bring him back to the main manor before lunchtime?"
Canary swallowed, gaze averted. There were only two hours until lunch. "Of-of course, Zebro-san. I- I'll do my best."
She looked up, only to see Zebro's warm smile. She smiled back, but it was more of a tight grimace than anything.
Curiosity got the better of her. "Why would...why would Killua-sama disobey his parents?" she asked.
Something complicated stole over Zebro's expression. "Killua-sama...has been away. He has been gone for two years, and has only just returned. I'm sure he's just...readjusting."
Right. Canary remembered. He had actually returned after she had been hired. She nodded, and decided not to press anymore questions. Then, she gestured to the disposal bins behind her.
"I'm on my last one," she said, "could you maybe - ?"
"I'll take care of it, Canary-chan. Now hurry and go retrieve Killua from wherever new hiding place he's found. The Mistress is not happy right now, and I'd rather have her wrath unleashed sometime other than today."
Canary nodded in gratitude, flashed Zebro a quick smile, and disappeared.
.
.
.
Zebro had been right. She was well suited to the job.
She hadn't made a big deal out of it, but it seemed that most of the other servants were aware of how clearly she could feel other people's presences. It had been more of an accident than anything, but Canary was young and sometimes she would comment, "Oh, Hilda-san's coming," even though Hilda wouldn't show up until another ten minutes.
She knew it was uncanny, but she also knew it wasn't unusual.
Anyone - anyone - from Meteor City, probably had the same uncanny sense of other people as her. It came as naturally as eating or sleeping. For people who did not exist, people of existence were simply much more noticeable.
And Killua...
...Killua, despite being an assassin, could never hide himself from her.
- wanna be friends?
She clamped down on her thoughts, and shoved them away.
He was too noticeable. Even if she couldn't see him or hear him, she knew that he was there somehow, and that his presence flared insistently against her senses like forked lightning and cold steel.
He was hiding in a tree, small body pressed against the trunks, skateboard tucked securely under his arm. From below, his entire body would have been hidden by the thick foliage.
"Killua-sama," she said, and bowed.
There was a stirring in the trees. Canary looked up.
There was another rustle of leaves, the whipping of tree branches, and then a blur of white dropped to the ground in front of her. There was no sound to his landing, something that greatly unnerved her.
Killua straightened, and there was an odd frown on his face.
"They sent you to find me," he said.
Canary swallowed at the frustration in his voice. "Yes, Killua-sama."
"Go away."
Canary maintained her composed expression. "I'm afraid I have been given orders by your mother, Killua-sama. She wishes for you to return to the main household before lunch."
"Well, I don't want to. I'm also a Zoldyck member. And I'm gonna be heir someday, so I should outrank mother. Go away, Canary."
She paused then, surprised.
"...you remember my name," she said.
Killua frowned at her. Then he turned, and tossed his skateboard down next the tree.
"Whatever," he said.
Canary bowed again, but it was a half-bow, and she did not want to take her eyes off Killua. "Killua-sama, it is important for you to return to your household, lest the Mistress become too angry."
"I don't care about mother," Killua snapped, and then he took a step forward, frowning at her. "Go away, Canary."
Canary shook her head, and kept her hands tightly clasped around her staff. "Killua-sama -"
Killua's hand mutated, the veins stretching and tendons elongating, his nails filing into sharp deadly points. He stepped forward, threateningly this time, and there was a strange pressure around him that made Canary's knuckles turn white.
She stayed her ground, controlled her breathing, and did not speak.
"Canary," he snarled, and there was something frightening in his sharp blue eyes, something that vaguely resembled a predator despite his young age, "go away."
Canary was frozen for a moment, because she had never seen this side of Killua before, and everything that the servants had told her before came flooding back to her, even the youngest one can kill you and he's a prodigy and do not wrong any of the members of the Zoldyck household.
Then she exhaled, and raised her staff, clenching it tightly.
Because Canary was suddenly furious. She was suddenly furious and despite whatever background in Meteor City she had, Canary had only been an apprentice butler for a few weeks and those few weeks were not enough.
She knew how to act. She knew how to lower her gaze and convey respect with every inch of her body, how to stand straight and bow low, how to word her responses and how to speak. She knew how to fight without regard for her own body, if only to protect the ones she served. She'd been taught by the other butlers, of course. She'd learned fast, and learned well.
But it still wasn't enough. Because for Canary, Meteor City still breathed inside her veins and sang in her blood.
"No," she snarled back, and she did not blink, because she knew that Killua was faster than her and that if she blinked there was a strong possibility that she would get her throat ripped out. "I don't know why you're resisting your mother so much, Killua-sama, but I have been given orders to return you to the main mansion before lunch, and I intend to follow them. I will not go away."
The air around her constricted, and Canary fought back intense shivers as Killua stepped closer, his eyes dark and pitless. She forced herself to control her breathing, but they came out as panicky gasps despite her best efforts. Her anger dwindled, but she grasped it and clutched it close.
"Stupid girl. You don't know anything," Killua spat. "I don't know why they sent you to find me."
Canary's fingers felt numb from gripping her staff so hard. "Killua-sama, I understand that you are upset right now, but please just return to the mansion -"
"I don't want to. Go away, Canary!" Killua stepped forward, and there was something hateful in his eyes now, the kind that spoke of misplaced frustration and fatigue and faint desperation.
Canary reeled, and her staff lowered slightly. She thought about Zebro's words, he's been gone for two years, and wondered if anything had happened.
"Killua-sama," she said, hesitatingly, carefully, "Killua-sama...why are you acting like this? Why don't you want to return to the mansion?"
Something sparked in Killua, and his posture instantly turned rigid and angry.
.
"Why would it matter to you," he seethed, "Canary? Why should I tell you? We're not friends."
.
.
Canary recoiled as if she had been struck.
.
She lowered her staff, the breath suddenly rushing out of her.
Killua seemed to instantly regret his words, a stricken look suddenly appearing on his face. He opened his mouth, but Canary cut him off.
"Killua-sama," she said, and her words felt hollow and her body strangely stiff, as if perhaps she were trying to speak through liquid, "your mother is waiting. Please return to the main manor by lunch."
Killua had a completely lost expression on his face. His hand twisted back so it was normal again. "Canary, wait -"
She took a step backwards, still feeling strangely numb, wondering briefly if perhaps her legs would be able to support her, and then fled.
"Canary - !"
.
.
.
.
.
.
Canary did not say anything when she showed up at the butler's mansion by herself, posture stiff but staff held surprisingly loosely in one hand. Gotoh offered her a smile when she walked in, but the one she returned felt forced.
Gotoh did not comment.
.
.
.
.
.
She supposed, later that day, as she polished her staff, that he had been completely right. She had been too rash, and he probably wasn't used to having a servant raise their weapon against him. This time, she had been in the wrong.
We're not friends.
If she had been any other girl, she might have been crying. But Canary had forgotten how to cry a long time ago.
Because Killua had been right. She should have returned to the butler's mansion, and asked that someone else retrieve Killua. She should have done anything other than push him with questions that she really had no business asking.
She set down her polishing cloth on the side of the bed, and stared at the gleaming dark wood. There were faint scratches and ridges on there, now, from all the practice she had done.
We're not friends.
She felt oddly empty.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The next day, on her sixth lap from the estate gate to the butler mansion, she was stopped by Zebro.
"Hey, Canary-chan," the old man said, his eyes crinkling into a smile, "good job yesterday. I'm not quite sure how you did it, but Killua-sama returned to the manor just before lunch. The mistress was ecstatic."
Canary paused momentarily, briefly, still panting hard. She forced herself to smile at Zebro, but it felt false.
Then she turned and kept running.
.
.
.
notes:
- okay, we're moving into uncharted territory now. Canon HxH does not go into detail about Killua's past, and I will not elaborate on how I'm setting up my story here, but please realize I do have a set timeline in my head of what events are happening in what order. It will probably be up to you to make the connections with canon information though.
- Canary feels presences differently. Much like how each character in HxH has a distinctive nen, she labels every presence she comes in contact with. That's why she describes Zebro having a presence that feels like pumpkins and rough cloth, or Gotoh as crisp linen and cracked stone.
- Hilda and Remillia are OCs. As of now, they are the only OCs. I'm trying to keep the number of OCs in this fic down, just to prevent confusion. Everyone else is pretty much canon though.
