New Abilities?
Preview: "Zombie!?" Gon shouted, and pointed at her accusingly.
"No!"
"Ghost!?"
"No!"
The group has returned to the guard's office, and they're trying to get a hold of Killua's family through the phone. When the Guard's attempt fails, Gon requests to have a turn at calling. The others watch on in silence.
A few seconds pass and someone answers. "I'm Gon, one of Killua-kun's friends." Saffron leans her ear against the phone in hopes of catching the words from the unknown speaker. "Is Killua-kun there?"
"Killua-sama has no friends." They then, with no warning, hang up.
Saffron pulls away with her mouth agape, "How rude."
Without uttering a word, Gon dials again. Everyone leans in closer this time, with curious eyes and are a little surprised by Gon's silence.
"Yes, this is the bulter's office."
"HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW THAT?! PUT KILLUA ON THE PHONE!"
That, was not expected.
"Christ, Gon." April yelps, astonished. They've all jumped back a little.
The voice from the phone releases Saffron from her stunned position. "I believe you said you were Gon-kun?" Gon confirms this. "Let us pretend KIllua-sama happens to have a friend named Gon. There is no proof that you are Gon."
"If you put Killua on the phone, he'll recognise me!"
"By your voice? That isn't good enough proof." The conversation dabbles on for a bit longer. Saffron doesn't understand, what's the big deal about letting him see his friends? "As long as there is a threat for Killua-sama, I cannot let you see him. The Zoldyck family practices the trade of assassination. Naturally, it has made enemies. As butlers, our duty is to guard our masters from their enemies. I apologize, please leave."
Gon angrily hangs up the phone and proceeds to stomp out of the room, ignoring his friend's protests. They manage to stop him in his attempt at climbing over the testing gates, and the Guard offers to open one of them and allow them to get a glimpse at what Mike looks like.
There's an eerie silence as they wait for Mike to reach them, and there's growling in the distance. An enormous animal emerges from the trees, even while lying down, Mike still towers over them. Saffron stares in awe, eyes taking in every feature of the animal.
April glances over at her friend knowingly, "What do you think Saf?"
Stars sparkle in her eyes, she replies, "He's beautiful."
April huffs out a laugh, "Thought so." Despite the joyful noise, she can't shake that feeling when she looks at the animal. It's eyes seem so blank and just empty. She doesn't understand how Saffron can call this thing beautiful.
The others stare in fear, shaking before the large, and very threatening dog. This is something entirely different than what they expected.
"He's like a machine." The Guard says. "Gon-kun, could you fight him?"
Gon shakes his head furiously, "No, I'm scared. I don't want to fight him!"
"I want to pet him though."
"Saffron, for the love of god, no."
"How long will you be here?" The man asks.
"Until we see Killua! We won't leave before then!" Gon states, completely determined.
"Then please come this way." The group does as requested, with Saffron sulking and trailing behind, she still wants to pet the dog.
The Guard, Zebro, has brought them to the servant's quarters to rest. The group sits down with Zebro and Seaquant, another worker, to have some tea and discuss the matter of reaching Killua.
"We understand that it won't be easy." Gon starts, "But I'm not leaving. Not until I see Killua! When Killua was in trouble, I wasn't there for him. If I had been there, I could have stopped Killua!"
The other four swap weary looks, the memory of what happened during the final phase flashes in their minds. When all three pairs of eyes, Kurapika's, Leorio's and April's, flicker to Saffron, she looks away and focuses on the table instead.
'If Gon was there, and tried to stop him like I did, would he have ended up the same way? No, he would have stayed dead.'
Zebro laughs lightly, "We understand. Then why not do some training here? Listen to me, you five are allowed to work together to open the door. With a little training, it should be possible. How about it?"
Gon's brows knit together, "I don't like the idea of being tested but,"
A rare smile graces Kurapika's lips, "If there's no other way,"
"And if we want to save Killua." Saffron chimes in.
April adds on, "Which we do!"
"We'll just have to do it!" Leorio finishes
"Then I'll need you to wear these." Zebro reveals five black vests and hands one to each of them. They all struggle to carry and put them on. They weigh 50kgs each. "Please wear it at all times, except while you sleep. I'll make it heavier when you get used to it. All the utensils in this house weigh over 20kgs a piece."
The training, to say the least, was pretty rough. However, it was still less painful than the training Minori would put Saffron and April through, so they didn't start off too horribly. They agreed Gon shouldn't train full throttle until his arm heals, but they knew he trained secretly, he refused to let his friend's do all the work.
During the middle of the night, Saffron had woken up to find Gon missing from his bed. She laughed quietly to herself. It was obvious he was out training. With no hope of getting back to sleep, she went out to look for him and stumbled across him in the forest, in a one hand, handstand position doing push ups.
"Can't help yourself can you?" Gon, startled, fell out of his hand stand and gave Saffron a sheepish look while she chuckled. "Don't worry it'll be our little secret." The two shared mischievous smiles. However, Gon's expression turned serious.
"Saffron, what is it that you guys aren't telling me."
Saffron blanched. "Eh?"
He crossed his legs and Saffron took a seat in front of him. "You've all been acting a little different since the end of the Exam. What else happened that no one is telling me?"
Saffron glanced down at her chest, at the glass heart embedded there and she tapped her fingers against it while emitting a sigh. "When the match between Killua and his brother was over, it was my turn to fight Bodoro. Killua killed him and I ran after him when I saw he was leaving and…" She stopped, was this really okay thing to say?
Returning her gaze to Gon, she found him staring at her intently. "When I tried to stop him," She gritted her teeth for a second, "He ripped out my heart and watched, with horror, how I dropped to the ground."
Gon kept up his intense stare, it's like Saffron could see the cogs turning in his head, then, he blanked for a moment.
"I, don't understand. He killed you?"
"Yep."
"Zombie!?" he shouted, and pointed at her accusingly.
"No!"
"Ghost!?"
"No!" A laugh followed the word this time and Gon's soon mixed in.
Gon scratched his head in thought, "…I still don't understand."
"He didn't mean to," She stated quickly. "His lust for blood was so strong, I really should have approached him better." She said, scolding herself.
"And you came back to life?" Saffron nodded awkwardly, this conversation never stops being weird. "How?" Something seems to click in his brain, "Does it have to do with the thing in your chest?"
Again, she nodded and pulled the top of her shirt down to just enough the reveal the pink, glass heart in the middle. Gon peered curiously at it, his eyes sparkled with wonder.
"This is the first time I've seen all of it." His awed expression fell and his head tilted right, "Why isn't it pink everywhere?"
Three sections of the heart are no longer a vibrant pink colour, but instead are a dull grey colour.
"Uh, well, it signifies how many 'hearts' I've lost, or lives, is a better word."
Gon looked astonished, "You've died three times?"
"Now I have."
A smile curled on his lips when he pokes it. "It feels…nice?" He pressed his fingers to it and leaves it there. "It gives me a warm feeling when touch it." The tip of his finger started to glow pink, the colour travelled down his arm and surged into his whole body.
He retracted it and looked at his broken arm instead, "My arm feels all tingly." He flaps his arm around and squawked loudly, grinning widely. "My arm is healed!" The smile slides away when he looks back to Saffron.
She's hunched over, breathing heavy, raspy, skin pale, people would say she was coated in a layer of white paint - like she were sick and beads of sweat cover and trickle down her forehead. "I've never-" She took in a large gulp of air, "done that…before." She managed.
Gon took on a look of concern, :"Are you going to die!?"
"No…" She paused to think. "Geez, I hope not." Gon whined and apologized as she laughed breathlessly.
Eventually, she regained her strength, "I've only ever healed myself, I didn't know I could heal other people." She said thoughtfully. "Really takes it out of me though."
The sun was beginning to rise, they needed to head back. They continued to talk during the walk. The house quickly came into sight.
Gon had steam coming from his ears, "So it heals you, heals other people and can bring you back to life, but.." he rubbed his head, "How did you get it, were you born with it?"
She refused to look at him, a shadow casted over her eyes, "No." She said solemnly.
He decided that the question of how she got it, was for another day, but still asked, "What is it for?" is there any reason Saffron was the person it was gifted to?
"It was an attempt at immortality."
They did it! Together, all five of them, pushed open the testing gate. Now they stand before Zebro feeling proud as he says goodbye and wishes them good luck. The group continues on into the forest until they come across a girl blocking their way.
"Leave." She said sternly. "You're trespassing on private property. I cannot allow you to pass without permission." She's dressed in a butler's outfit.
"We called in beforehand. And we came through the testing gate." Gon states.
"The butlers did not give you permission to enter. No one has ever received permission." She draws a line in the group with her staff. "If you take on step beyond this line, I'll remove you by force."
The others watch as Gon approaches her, only to be clocked in the face when he passes the line. "We don't want to fight you. We just want to see KIllua."
"It doesn't matter what your motives are. I'm simply following my orders." Once again, Gon crosses the line and is knocked back. This goes on until nightfall, Gon doesn't want his friends to interfere. He's beaten and bruised. April can hardly watch anymore.
"Stop! Stay away!" The girl says, her voice slightly strained, and she wacks him away again. "Can't you see how futile this is? Aren't you his friends?" She stops when she sees the determination on all their faces.
"What's the problem? I'm just here to see Killua? Why do I have to do this?!" With a clenched fist, Gon swings his arm at the brick fence, shattering it. His toes just cross the line.
"Ne, I crossed the line. Aren't you supposed the hit me?" The butler shakes lightly. "You're different from mike. You may try to hide your feelings, but you have a heart. When I mentioned Killua, your eyes softened for a moment."
Saffron feels her heart swell when she sees the tears in the girl's eye, and they drop onto her staff.
"Please…help killua-sama-" Her sentence is cut off when she's shot through the head.
All their eyes widen in horror. Saffron rushes over to her, sliding onto her knees. The rest follow.
"What was that servant babbling about?" An unfamiliar voice alerts them to the trees. There's a woman dressed in an elegant dress, wearing a robotic eye? And a child in a kimono. "She made it sound like we were being mean to Killua."
"You must be Gon, Saffron and April. I heard about you from Illumi. Killua knows you're here. I have a message for you from Kil…'Thank you for coming, I really appreciate it. But I can't see you right now. Sorry'"
"Bullshit!" Saffron snaps out, glaring out the woman.
The lady gasps, offended, "How foul."
He wouldn't really say that. What does she take them for, a bunch of idiots? Well, it doesn't matter because, without even speaking to one another, they all agree that they're still not leaving. Not till they see him.