HO YEAH BABY! TRIPLE UPDATE AGAIN! I was gonna feel really guilty if I left you guys off without a completion to this flashback, so I decided to post all three chapters covering it! I want to add, that this whole section of the fic (this backstory in particular) is well over six thousand words! Alright, enough of my rambling, time to get on with the story!

"Yo, Shalnark. Shally boy! Gotta wake up! Oh damn, the kid must not be a morning person… oh, there you are sunshine!"

Shalnark blinked his eyes open, seeing that he was still inside the plane with Kurapika snuggled next to him. He looked at Berry, who was smiling at him in the dark.

"Come on now, get out! We gotta go over to that nice trash heap over there!" she said, pointing over to something that Shalnark could tell wasn't supposed to be a city but was.

"Wha…?"

"Oh boy, you sure are sluggish right now. It's understandable though. Pass Kurapika over will ya?"

Shalnark mindlessly obeyed, the younger blonde's body heavy but not enough for him to be unbearably so. He passed him over to Berry who had him propped against her shoulder as she hummed to herself and slung her pouch over her other shoulder.

"Got a good friend out here," she started saying, though Shalnark didn't realize she was talking to him till she continued. "He'll be taking care of you guys till… well I don't know. Just don't get on his bad side ey? He hasn't been the same since his wife's death."

Shalnark was awake by the time she had said the last sentence, but he was still too tired to even ask what had happened. She turned around and offered her hand, which he felt inclined to deny, but didn't. So they walked hand in hand towards a city he would later learn would be called Meteor City, and towards their new home.

When they arrived, they traveled around the outskirts of town before they arrived at the house Berry was talking about. It looked more like an abandoned shrine if anything but when they got to the front door, it was opened in a hurry by a tired looking man with long black hair tied back tightly with stubble on his face.

"Nob-! Oh, Berathalum. What brings you here?" he asked, trying not to show the disappointment in his voice as he tried to make himself look more presentable.

"I've got some kids I need you to look after. If they bother ya you can kick 'em out but they're pretty well behaved and will do what you ask. Except for the four year old. I don't know about him much." Berry said, looking around him and into the house distractedly. "Where is-"

"He's gone." the man answered quickly, cutting her off, and sighing when she gave him a sympathetic look. "For a while now. I think I made him mad. Or upset. Or something else entirely. I… how about you come in? You too." he added, motioning to Shalnark with an expression that looked somehow significantly more tired than before.

He nodded, following Berry in, still holding her hand, and sat down when she did, taking in the unexpectedly large space. It was clean, Shalnark noted. And… empty. The man came over and sat across from them, sitting down cautiously.

"I'm sorry you have to see my house like this. I haven't had much motivation to keep it comfortable…"

"It's alright, I need to leave soon anyway. How about we do introductions?" Berry suggested, looking at Shalnark instead of the other man. Shalnark nodded slightly, not really feeling like arguing at that point.

"I'm Shalnark. And the sleeping one is Kurapika." he said, doing his best to smile.

Despite how tired the man looked, he gave them a small, genuine smile, one that Shalnark only ever saw being used by older tribe members when little kids were talking to them excitedly.

"And I'm Nobuhide. It's nice to meet you two. I'm not much right now, but I'll do what I can." he bowed a bit, making Shalnark realize he hadn't done the same, and that maybe that was a custom here. He was going to until Berry stood up, slinging her pouch off her shoulder carefully and then setting it down between her and Nobuhide.

"The whole pouch is full of food stuff and some nice blankets and what not. Even a few things I invented for ya. Oh except for these," she said, bending down and taking a handful of jerky and a water canteen. "These are mine for the ride home."

Nobuhide nodded, standing up too to bow at her.

"Thank you very much."

"No, thank you. I feel bad on barging in like this, especially with… you know. But I'll do my best to try and visit and what not, no guarantee though!" she said, laughing lightly as she patted the taller man's shoulder. "Best of luck to ya!"

He smiled again, grateful for her positive attitude despite the circumstances.

"Of course."

He took Kurapika from her hands with a practiced ease, turning and walking towards the back of the room where there was a long hallway at both corners. He turned down the left hall, leaving Shalnark and Berry alone.

"Shal, please be nice to Nobuhide. His son just left him, though he should be around your age, or even a little older. Last I saw him he looked around your age though… he's around six years older probably. Anyway, do your best here okay? This is as far as the plan goes, but I bet Anahita and Eidos are thinking of something right now."

Shalnark nodded, glancing over to where Nobuhide had disappeared with Kurapika. He stayed silent for a bit before turning back to Berry.

"When will he wake up?"

Berry looked at him and sighed, muttering something under her breath as she ran a hand through her red hair that had began to get overly curly.

"Probably tomorrow." she said unsurely, looking back up when Nobuhide re-entered the room. "You hear that Nobuhide?"

"Yes, of course. Anahita's work I'm assuming?"

"Yeah. She was always good at that, putting kids asleep. Well, anyone to sleep, but kids are easier to do it to I think."

He grunted in response, walking over to Shalnark and kneeling down in front of him so that they were the same height.

"Shalnark, if I ever start doing things you don't like, don't be afraid to tell me. I don't want to hurt you or Kurapika, alright?"

The Kurta looked at him and then smiled, feeling that half of him meant it.

"Yes!"

Berry gave him a thumbs up before saying some parting words with Nobuhide, who looked a bit nervous despite already having experience in raising a child.

"You seem better," Berry started, before she shook her head and clapped Nobuhide's shoulder. "Well, whatever. I owe ya one now, so get in contact with me if you ever need anything."

"Of course. Take care on your way back."

"Gotcha."

And then Berry left, leaving Shalnark in the room alone with Nobuhide. They awkwardly avoided looking at each other before Shalnark's stomach growled, causing Nobuhide to laugh.

"You're hungry? Well I haven't had any food recently that would be child safe so let's eat whatever is in that bag of yours and in Berathalum's pouch, eh?"

"Okay!"

Two days later when Kurapika woke up, he was introduced to Nobuhide as their caretaker and to Shalnark as his cousin, and that his parent's had thought that taking a trip to the outside world would be a great adventure to them, and that they'd keep in touch. Shalnark didn't think Kurapika could ever look as happy as he did when he claimed to be his blood relative. Shalnark would've felt guilty about the lie if he didn't already feel like they were family anyway.