Chapter 37: Memories
They four spent a few minutes explaining what they'd done to get her out of there. They'd sat in the same very spot that they were sitting now- the hotel lobby couches- made a plan, and left. Apparently, last night there was a huge attack on the auction house (Aliara learned that Yorknew City was holding a humongous auction) and several of the attackers, who were Kurapika's sworn enemies, had died.
But that apparently didn't last long, because thirty seconds after Aliara was 'reunited' with her gloves, Kurapika got a text.
Aliara peered over his shoulder.
The corpses were fake.
The blond boy bolted up from his seat and marched off angrily towards another room, and the other three boys were quick to hop up and follow. Confused, Aliara toddled after them, clutching her shoes and gloves to her chest.
"What's with you all of a sudden?!" Leorio demanded. "Oi, I'm talking to you!" But Kurapika forged on, ignoring the doctor, which only served to agitate him more.
"Hisoka?" Killua said quietly after a second.
Kurapika nodded.
"The corpses were fake?" Aliara mused aloud, and Kurapika whirled on her, almost making her jump. "I read the text over your shoulder," she confessed bluntly, shrugging. "But who's Hisoka?"
"They were what?!" Gon cried out.
He shook his head, glaring at the phone in his hand. "One of them must have the power to do that."
"Like the guy we met in the Heaven's Tower!" Killua exclaimed, turning to Gon and herself.
She was about to interrupt when Gon nodded and said, "Kastro! He could make a duplicate of himself."
"Hold on a sec!" Aliara cried out. "Don't forget the amnesiac! What's going on?!"
They paused.
Killua snickered, and Gon burst into laughter. Aliara was half tempted to join in but she still didn't really understand what was going on. Leorio chuckled and rolled his eyes before saying, "Hisoka's sort of relaying information to Kurapika about the Phantom Troupe. The five corpses that were apparently accounted for were all fake. Hisoka's a creepy overpowered clown dude."
The black-haired girl nodded along slowly, trying to find a picture of Hisoka in her brain but coming back empty-handed. "Wait," she said slowly, "so what's so funny?"
The white-haired boy laughed again. "'Don't forget the amnesiac' was absolutely priceless!" His voice quieted, "and it's nice knowing you still have your old personality."
"And that're you're comfortable around us now," Gon added, popping in, smiling so wide that Aliara thought his face was going to split.
She grinned back. "Okay. Okay. What now?"
Kurapika was on the phone with someone else, a frustrated yet serious expression on his face. He hung up, glaring at the screen before tucking it away. "Hisoka?" Killua asked again.
He shook his head. "One of my work partners. The community has stopped pursuit of the Spiders, and the reward has been cancelled." Aliara pieced together in her head that 'Spiders' referred to the famous Phantom Troupe.
"What?!" the two boys cried out in unison.
"Oh no?" Aliara said questionably.
They stared at her for a second before conversing among themselves, and for once Aliara was happy to stay out of it. It was still a lot of information to process at once, and right now, this information seemed new to even Gon and Killua. She didn't want a part of that, not yet. Not unless it was going to help get her memories back.
Gon and Killua pulled her aside afterwards, and tried to explain things the best they could. "The Phantom Troupe had bounties on their head," the white-haired boy explained, shuffling his feet. "But the bounties were just cancelled. We were originally going to hunt them and get the bounties so we'd have enough money to buy something at the auction."
She nodded along, "how much were the bounties?"
"Two billion each," Gon replied.
Aliara's eyes widened. "Two billion?! Holy crap, that's a lot. I can see why you'd want to catch them."
The two boys exchanged a look that she couldn't identify, and it made her skin crawl. They knew something they weren't telling her- but, generally speaking, they knew a lot of somethings that she didn't know quite yet.
"We can still try to capture them, though," Gon said eagerly.
Killua and Aliara turned on him in unison, saying "why?!"
"Have you forgotten our primary objective?" Killua seethed, jabbing a finger at Gon angrily.
"Greed Island," the boy replied sheepishly.
So that's what they were trying to buy at the auction.
"Exactly," Killua agreed, frowning. "And the Southern peace auctions begin the day after tomorrow. Don't you think we should be busy finding money?!"
Gon rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Actually, I have a secret plan."
"What's your secret plan?" Aliara asked eagerly.
He grinned. "It's a secret!"
"Don't play games with me!" Killua screeched angrily, locking Gon in a headlock as Aliara pounced on him, yelling, "I gathered that, you weirdo!" Gon wiggled his way out, beaming the entire time.
"Leave the game to me," he said confidently.
"Are you sure you really have a plan?" Killua said in exasperation.
Aliara frowned. This felt so familiar, but at the same time, so distant and far away. Their personalities were so fun to watch, and the friendship was obvious between them. Did they care about her that much? Was she a third wheel? What exactly happened?
Huh. When'd they stop talking?
But their mouths were still moving.
Why was everything so blurry?
Why was?...
Huh.
Aliara's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she passed out.
There were three kids. Sitting on a large rock, looking up at the starry night sky, laying on their backs. That was funny, one of them looked like her.
"I'm happy when I'm with you guys."
"You- You what?"
"Don't say stuff like that so suddenly!"
"You two are my first friends."
"Same with me."
"Same with me too."
That's funny. She felt like that conversation had actually happened before...
The scene changed. The same three kids were walking through a forest, one marching ahead of the other two. The one that looked like her was the last one back.
"Hey, Killua- Do you... uh, you... actually not like spending time with me?"
"What? Moron, of course not. I'm just teasing you. How could you be so stupid?"
"How was I supposed to know, idiot?! You literally said you weren't happy around me!"
"Well that's just stupid! You weren't supposed to take it like that!"
"How was I supposed to take it, then? Moron!"
"I'm always happy around you, idiot!"
Then the scene faded to black again, and like a puzzle piece, Aliara felt something in her brain just... click.
"Ali! Ali, wake up!"
She blinked rapidly. Where was she? What just happened?...
"Ali? Are you okay?"
Things were focusing now. Two blurry faces were staring down at her, and she felt two warm arms under her back. She blinked again, and realized it was Gon and Killua, who both looked extremely worried.
She groaned, trying to pick herself up. "What..."
"You fainted," Gon said, his voice slightly rushed. "Killua caught you before you hit the floor, but you didn't hit your head or anything."
"My head," she said faintly, rubbing a hand against the side of her head. "I..."
Aliara blinked and looked up at Gon and Killua's worried faces.
"We were on a rock," she said slowly, watching their eyes widen. "We were laying down and looking at the stars." Aliara tried to think back, tried to remember every last little detail because she didn't want to forget anything. "And we were happy, and talking about friends."
Both boys looked shocked but Aliara forged on. "And- And then we were in the forest, and we were walking, and I was talking to Killua, and we were..." the memories faded, and she cursed. "Dammit!"
"You remember," Killua said in awe.
"Yeah," Aliara said slowly.
Like snowflakes, more things just started falling, filling her head with crazy memories and little oddball details. Just the way that Killua held her in his arms and the way they both looked at her in concern seemed to fill the empty part of her brain. "Ice cream," she stated clearly.
They both blinked.
"We go out for ice cream to celebrate things," she repeated, trying to clutch at the few things that were dwindling in her brain.
Killua's jaw slipped open, and Gon's dark eyes widened until they were almost the size of dinner plates.
"And- And... And we..." she bit her lip, trying to find something else. "And we... We..."
"Take a breath," Gon advised quietly.
Aliara exhaled, trying to calm herself. "Sunglasses."
Killua inhaled sharply, "say what?"
"Sunglasses," she repeated, not sure where the information was coming from but using it to her full advantage. "Sunglasses that had some sort of heat sensor or x-ray vision, sunglasses that connected to a tracking device."
"What about them?" Gon questioned quietly.
She had to stop herself from smacking herself in the forehead. "I... I don't know."
"Ali," Killua whispered, excitement creeping into his eyes, "that's incredible!"
"You're remembering a lot," Gon added, beaming, "and you're doing great!"
Her head was spinning, and she twisted- but she forgot she was in Killua's arms, and she rolled out onto the floor, smacking her awkward cast off the ground. She cursed again, waving her arm. "This cast is a pain."
"Is that all you remember?" Killua pushed, and he and Gon leaned forward eagerly.
Aliara swallowed nervously.
She remembered that night in the forest, walking through the trees, and the anxiety she felt thinking that Killua didn't actually like her at all. She remembered the intense sense of relief when he said he was just teasing her, and then the embarrassment when he said he was always happy around her.
Oh crap.
She didn't... like Killua, did she?!
Holy crap-
"Y- Yes!" she squeaked, her cheeks flushed. "I don't- I don't really remember anything else!"
He cocked his head, his bright blue eyes filled with concern. His fluffy hair fell in front of his eyes and Aliara could tell why she liked him. "That's okay," he said patiently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "This is a huge step. We can talk to Leorio about it later."
Aliara's heart sped up.
Oh, she was screwed.
Night Owl: Awwww thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed! :)
Guest: Here ya go! Thanks for your review! :D
Reading1Dragon: No worries! OH MY GOODNESS you're so sweet! I'm so happy you reread the story, your compliments make me so so happy! :) Don't worry, she's gonna get her memory back... eventually ;) THANK YOU!
yachiru-chan92: Aww, thank you! :D
Audley Moore: Aha thank you! Yes, I may diverge slightly from canon but I'm going to try my best. Thank you! :)
Guest: I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS! Yesss, Aliara's frickin adorable, I love her so much. And I can't wait for her to meet her mother... Yikes. I thought a fly was pretty harmless! I also wanted to show that she hasn't lost her killing intent (not that anyone could tell, it was literally just a tiny fly). THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! :D :D
bunnyxstar: Aw you're so sweet! Thank you so much! :)
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