WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GORE AND DEATH!!

The War, Part 1

"I'm almost too nervous to hear about this war," Ochaco spoke as she snuggled further underneath the blankets.

Killua smiled softly at her. "Well, it's certainly a lot more...dark? Terrible? Than the last one," he stated.

Gon hummed as he nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. He still had one hand on Killua's upper thigh, though the omega's lap was covered in a blanket now. Denki had made more hot chocolate a few minutes ago once Killua finished talking about the first war.

It was starting to get dark out and Inko had texted to tell them she went out for dinner with Katsuki's parents and that they should order some takeout or have Katsuki cook for them, if he felt up to it.

"Where should we start, Killua?" Gon asked, turning his head to look at his mate.

Killua hummed in thought. "Maybe the day we were told about it?" He suggested.

Gon nodded. "Okay, it's as good a place as any to start, right?" He asked.

Killua nodded before he tilted his head back to look up at the ceiling. "Izuku was about...two years old at the time when Kurapika and Leorio came to pay is a visit. They were the ones that told us about the mission, since they're both members of the Zodiacs," he explained.

--

Laughter sounded through the air, Killua, sitting on a blanket underneath a tree in the park, watched with a smile as Gon chased their son around in circles. Izuku's little legs ran as fast as they could carry him, giggles escaping his lips as his daddy chased after him with his large hands out, poised to grab him right out of the air and tickle him.

Gon made sure to stay a few feet behind his son, taking slightly smaller and slower steps so as not to catch up to his sweet baby quite yet. Izuku glanced behind him, a fresh bout of giggles being torn out of him as Gon lunged forward, gently grabbing his baby and lifting him up into the air.

"Daddy!" Izuku screeched as Gon tilted him onto his back in his arms, pressing his face into Izuku's little belly, he made loud, exaggerated sounds as he pretended to bite him.

Izuku squirmed wildly as he laughed, face turning red as his tiny hands took hold of his daddy's hair.

Gon eventually pulled away, a bright grin on his face as Izuku's giggles grew breathy and he yawned.

"Are you tired, little man?" Gon asked as he adjusted his hold on his baby.

Izuku nodded, one hand rubbing at his eye, the other placed on Gon's shoulder.

"Let's go back to your mommy then, you want to take a nap?" Gon questioned as he started to walk over to Killua.

"Daddy nap too?" Izuku asked softly as he placed his head on Gon's shoulder.

Gon chuckled softly. "I'll take a nap with you," he replied.

Izuku giggled as he snuggled into Gon's neck.

"I get tired just watching you two," Killua stated as Gon approached him.

Gon grinned. "That's because we're balls of energy, Killua! You just can't keep up anymore,"

Killua pouted as Gon reached forward with his free hand, gripping Killua's hand and pulling him to his feet.

The omega bent down and picked up the blanket, quickly folding it neatly and gathering the few belongings they had brought with them. Izuku was already half asleep by the time they made it back to their apartment.

"Gon, Killua," Kurapika greeted once they made it to their front door and spotted their two friends.

Gon grinned brightly. "Hey guys!" He greeted.

Killua rose a brow at them as he moved to unlock their door, the two seemed a bit off.

"Uncle Pika! Uncle Oreo!" Izuku called enthusiastically as he woke suddenly, smiling brightly at the two.

Killua snickered into one hand as Leorio cringed at the name; the older male had always been very sensitive about his name for some reason.

"Come on in, guys," Killua stated as he opened the door and they all stepped inside.

"What brings you guys here? Usually, you call first before showing up," Gon questioned as they all moved to sit on the sofa.

Izuku scampered off to his room to play, too awake now to take his nap.

Kurapika bit his lip, expression grim. "I...have some news for the two of you," he spoke.

Gon frowned but nodded as he sat back to listen carefully.

Kurapika hesitated for a few minutes. "The Chimera Ants are back," he stated softly.

Both Gon and Killua tensed significantly, they had a bad feeling about this.

"They showed up a few months ago, washed ashore and attacked citizens. It took us a while, but we were able to pinpoint from where they came. From the Dark Continent," Kurapika explained.

The two were quiet, expressions turning grim as Kurapika bit his lower lip.

"It's been decided that the ones who dealt with the first Chimera Ants, are the ones that will go on this extermination mission," Kurapika stated.

The room went quiet, Gon stared with a faraway look at a wall, Leorio frowned at his legs and Kurapika continued to bite his lip.

Killua looked up at Kurapika, a pleading look on his face. "Is there any way we can get out of this, Kurapika? We, we have son, we can't just leave him,"

Kurapika gazed sadly into Killua's eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry. The hunt won't start for a few months, but there isn't any way for either of you to get out of this,"

Killua's lower lip trembled as he stared at the blond in despair.

Kurapika clenched his fists and looked away, there was nothing he could do to help them.

"Mommy!" Izuku called as he ran into the room, completely oblivious to the tension in the air.

Killua took a deep breath and plastered on a smile as he turned to his son.

"What is it, sweetie?" He asked as Izuku ran up to him.

" 'm tired," Izuku mumbled as he rubbed at his eyes, yawning. "Will daddy take a nap with me?"

Killua glanced at Gon, noting that his mate still seemed far away.

Killua smiled at Izuku. "Why don't you sleep in mommy's arms, instead?" He suggested. "Daddy...isn't feeling too well right now,"

Killua watched as Izuku stared up at Gon in concern. "Is daddy okay?" Izuku asked softly and for a second, Killua feared his baby might start crying with how upset he seemed.

Gon snapped out of it, turning his head to smile softly at his son. "I'm okay, little man, nothing to worry about," he assured.

Izuku smiled and raised his arms to his mother, smiling as Killua picked him up and placed him in his lap.

Killua held his son, gently rocking him to sleep. Kurapika and Leorio left after a little while, telling them that they had to meet up at the Hunter's Association in four months. Killua could clearly see the guilt in their eyes, but he didn't blame them. This was part of life, and there was nothing they could do about that now.

--

"We took about a week to figure out where we should take you. We didn't want to just put you up for adoption, we were worried about who would adopt you and who knew if they would actually take care of you," Killua explained.

Izuku gazed sadly at his parents, he didn't want to think about how hard this must have been for them.

"That's when I remembered Aunt Inko!" Gon stated. "She's a beta and she's one of the unfortunate females that can't conceive and her husband left her because of that. She was lonely so I suggested her to Killua,"

"We didn't want to give you to just anyone, we had to be sure you'd be taken care of and Aunt Inko was perfect! She always wanted kids and I knew she'd take good care of you. So we came here and asked her if she'd be willing,"

"It took some convincing, I won't lie, but once she agreed, we had her officially adopt you," Gon explained, fingers kneading Killua's thigh again. "After that was done, we had to leave. We went to Whale Island to say goodbye to Alluka and Aunt Inko,"

"We spent three days there before we left for the Hunter's Association where we met up with Morel, Knov and Knuckle. The Association had everything we needed to enter the Dark Continent," Killua told.

"So we travelled there and Knov used his nen ability to bring in the others, since only five people were allowed entry at once. We spent the first six years hunting the soldiers. They weren't all that different from the previous ants, just a bit smarter and a lot better at hiding,"

"It took a lot longer than necessary, but we eventually found the Queen's nest. We infiltrated the place to try and prevent the birth of the King, but we were too late," Killua stated.

Gon chuckled softly. "Way too late. I think he was born a week before we showed up," he told.

Killua scoffed. "That was really annoying,"

Gon smiled at his mate.

"Where did you even live?" Denki questioned.

"Knov has the ability to open up portals into a nen dimension, it's a four level mansion. We mostly stayed in there, but sometimes we stayed out in the wilderness. Knov was crucial to our escape, so we had to keep him alive at all cost," Killua explained.

Gon smiled softly. "He was still a little traumatized from our previous fight with the first Ant King, so we all decided to rather not have him fight. He had made portals to the Hunter's Association and the hospital as well as our apartment, so that in case something catastrophic happened, we could escape easily enough,"

The room grew silent for a while, the teens staring tensely at any available surface. This was it, they were finally about to hear what the two adults went through, and it was terrifying.

"Unlike the first King and his royal guards, these new ones didn't go by any names, so we just called them by numbers. The King obviously stayed the King," Gon spoke up again, his hand moving up and down Killua's thigh as a form of comfort for the both of them as they started to delve deeper into their memories.

"The King actually looked more human than ant, he was really tall, like Gon, no wait, maybe a little shorter? Anyway, he was tall and muscular with a tail that had a pointed end that was flat, sort of like a blade. He had black wings, too, like a crow," Killua described with a frown. "I'm actually not all that sure what his ability was,"

Gon blinked in surprise, humming thoughtfully. "Did he even use any abilities?" He asked.

Killua shrugged. "Anyway, so after we finished exterminating all the other ant soldiers, we spent a few weeks tracking the King and his royal guards,"

"We found them staying inside a world tree, this one was really huge and they had made hole and tons of tunnels in the tree itself. It was like a mansion in there," Gon described, his tone revealing his awe. "I actually wouldn't have minded staying in there," he mentioned.

Killua snorted into his cup with a shake of his head. "Of course you wouldn't have minded," he muttered.

Gon grinned brightly.

"Anyway, so we found the King and we were busy coming up with a plan of attack,"

--

"Alright," Morel spoke, adjusting his pipe next to him as they all settled down in the dirt, hidden away and out of sight from the world tree and the King residing inside. "You all remember the plan, right?"

He received multiple types of agreement. They were waiting for the sun to start setting before they would attack. Knov had already set up entrances to his nen mansion nearby. They took this time to rest and prepare for the upcoming fight.

"Is it just me, or is this a lot more nerve wracking than the first extermination mission?" Meleoron asked as he lit a cigarette.

Killua gave him a look of disapproval. "You really should stop smoking, it prevents you from using your ability to it's fullest potential," he scolded.

Meleoron grinned at him. "It calms me down,"

Killua sighed, shaking his head as he moved to lean against a nearby tree. Gon smiled and walked towards him, taking both of his hands in his own.

"Everything will be okay, Killua," he assured.

Killua smiled at him, opening his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a series of heavy footfalls. The two mates turned in time to watch as a giant grizzly bear Chimera Ant came charging at them.

"Gon!" Killua shouted, turning to his mate just as the bear appeared before his mate and slammed it's massive, clawed hand into Gon's stomach.

Gon gasped as he spat up blood and spit, body briefly folding over the bears fist before he was sent propelling backwards, crashing through trees and boulders.

The bear ant took a step back, lips twisting up in a grin as he roared in triumph. The Ant had the body of a bear, but it could walk on it's hind legs as if it were a man with a pair of shorts on, it's mussel was slightly shorter and it had hands instead of paws; it towered over Killua.

"Took one out in just one hit!" The bear cheered, turning it's brown eyes on Killua. "The pretty one's next," it stated, readying to attack before it was surrounded by smoke.

Killua took this time to activate Godspeed and run towards Gon, trusting his comrades to be alright whilst he checked up on his mate, who was already engaged in a fight with another Royal Guard. This one was clearly a female, with long, flowing white hair, a long, poufy tail with spots swaying from the base of her spine.

Her legs were covered in fur powerful paws supporting her well as she landed a powerful kick to Gon's chest. She had on a pare of shorts, her stomach bare, the fur started again from the bottom of her ribs, covering her entire chest up to her shoulders and down her upper arms, stopping at her elbow. She had a pair of ears twitching on top of her head.

Killua noted that she was snow leopard Chimera. Gon grunted painfully as she kept landing hit after hit on him, each one connecting faster and stronger than the previous.

"Gon!" Killua shouted as the Ant grinned crazily, her clawed hand swinging up in an attempt to impale his mate.

Gon jumped back, avoiding the attack, much to the Ant's frustration.

"Tch, and I was so close, too," she remarked.

Killua tensed as her eyes moved to him, a smirk on her lips, sharp teeth glaring at the omega.

"Are you done yet?" The deep voice of the bear asked as he walked over, mussel covered in red and blue blood.

Killua gritted his teeth, moving to stand beside Gon as the two Ants turned to look at them.

"Our King is kind, so he's letting you off with a warning, should you come back here again, we won't hesitate to kill all of you," the female ant warned before she turned and walked away.

It was annoying, it was like she didn't even see them as a threat. The bear smirked at them again, winked and walked away. Once they were sure they were gone, the two raced back to their hiding spot.

There was blood splattered everywhere.

"Oh my god!" Killua shouted as he ran towards their friends.

"Morel?! Can you hear me, are you okay?!" Gon asked frantically as he knelt next to the older male.

His shirt was soaked through with blood, a chunk of his skin bitten off on his left side.

"I'm okay." Morel groaned. "Is everyone else okay?"

Killua knelt beside the remains of Meleoron, hands shaking as he bit back nausea.

The ant's head was squashed, blue blood pooling around the corpse. One of his arms were missing, his tail was gone, too. He never stood a chance.

"Meleoron is," Killua trailed off, taking a shaky breath.

"Colt is dead, too," Palm announced, a pained look on her face.

The ant had fought the bear for around two minutes before he was killed brutally.

"We need to abort now, Knov!" Morel stated.

The other man nodded as he opened a portal to his mansion. Knuckle helped Morel get up off the ground, ignoring his own wounds as he lead the man inside.

Shoot helped Palm go inside, she was missing a good chunk of her leg. Gon moved to Killua, gently placing his hands on his mate's upper arms, pulling him up and leading him into the portal.

They barely even managed to fight back and already they had suffered casualties. Gon frowned, Meleoron was such a good friend, but he forced down his tears in favour of making sure Killua was alright; his mate was shaken.

Ikalgo was crying in a corner of the room, he Meleoron and Colt had been good friends.

--

"We took a week to heal and do some light training," Killua mentioned with a frown. "And to come to terms with how outmatched we seemed to be. It only took two guards to nearly wipe us all out and they were barely using any nen,"

The room grew silent. Katsuki frowned down at the blankets covering his lap, it was only the start of this story and already he felt queasy and the need to just pause and take it all in.

Denki had a grim look on his face as he stared into his mug, hot chocolate going cold in his grasp, but he couldn't find it in himself to swallow it down.

"And so a week later, we went back using the portals Knov had made to catch the King and his guards off guard," Gon spoke.

--

Killua found that the other two guards were extremely unnerving to look at. There was another male, a snake from what he could tell, with scales on random parts of his body and a long tale. His forked tongue frequently darted passed his lips to taste the air, eyes seemingly able to stare into one's soul.

The other was a female with large, black bug like eyes, face pale and body covered in various poisonous flowers, her arms were covered in black and yellow stripes. Killua assumed she was meant to be a bee.

They had snuck in, found the guards in various places stationed to watch over their King and attacked. The guards were clearly surprised by this, having assumed that the humans would listen to their previous warning.

Though they had caught the ants by surprise, they were easily able to split the group up and deal with them then. Gon and Knuckle stood facing the bear, the beast grinning wickedly at them. Not only was it strong, but it was fast, too. They assumed it must be an enhancer.

The bear was able to dodge them near flawlessly, landing hit after hit on the two hunters. Gon dodged a swipe at his head, summoning his Ja-Janken as Knuckle lunged at the beast to distract it.

"Janken-rock!" Gon shouted, sprinting forward as Knuckle jumped out of the way.

The bear turned in time to receive the nen attack to the stomach, a grunt passing his lips as he spat up blood.

His feet dug in the ground as he was sent backwards, stilling after only a few feet.

The bear chuckled. "That actually hurt a bit," he stated as he patted his belly.

"Fuck!" Gon swore as the bear charged at them again.

He ducked down to avoid another swipe at his head, rolling to the side as the bear raised his foot to stomp on him.

The bear turned, grabbed a hold of Gon's arm and kneed his in the stomach. Knuckle's nen ability announced an increase in interest. Knuckle grit his teeth, it was like Youpi all over again. Gon spat up blood as the bear continued to knee him in the stomach.

Knuckle rushed forward to land a hit on the bear's back, noting with frustration that it barely affected the beast. The bear released Gon, bringing down it's elbow to the back of his head, knocking the hunter out.

Knuckle watched the younger male fall to the ground with a loud thud, blood leaking from his lips. The bear lost interest in him fairly quickly, walking away without finishing the job.

Knuckle managed to carry Gon away, fighting back tears of frustration, they didn't even stand a chance against these ants.

Killua and Ikalgo were facing off against both the snake and the bee lady. Killua was on edge, not liking being separated from his mate like this. The bee ant was extremely frustrated with him, though, since none of her poisonous plants were taking effect on Killua.

She didn't believe him when he said that poison had no effect on him, choosing to believe that there had to be some type of plant, or a combination of many that could kill him, or at least hurt him.

The snake was standing behind her, observing the fight with little interest. It unnerved Killua. Ikalgo was forced to stay back, since he could get hurt by the bee's poisons, Killua had decided to take her on himself.

She wasn't quite as fast as he was and Killua hadn't felt the need to use Godspeed, until she managed a hit on Ikalgo. Killua stared in horror as the poison instantly started to take effect.

"Ikalgo!" He shouted in horror, electricity sparking on his skin as he activated Godspeed, grabbed his friend and raced away.

Once Killua was sure they were far enough away, he placed his friend down on the ground, cradling him to his chest.

"You'll be okay, Ikalgo, we, we need to get you to a hospital, there has to be a cure!" Killua rambled, mind racing.

"It's too late, Killua," Ikalgo stated.

Killua turned to look at his friend, noting how pale Ikalgo was already, this poison acted very fast, they wouldn't even be able to make it to a hospital.

"I'm sorry," Killua whispered, tears pooling in his eyes.

Ikalgo smiled. "Killua," he started, gaining the other's attention. "Thank you,"

Killua gazed at him in confusion. "For what?"

"For being my friend," Ikalgo replied.

Killua blinked, tears falling down his cheeks, his lower lips trembled, yet he managed a small smile. "I thought I told you, friends don't thank friends,"

Ikalgo smiled again, tears swimming in his eyes, too. "I know, but I just wanted to tell you anyway,"

Killua held Ikalgo in silence for a while, the octopus' body starting to tremble as agony took hold. Killua leant forward, planting a soft kiss to Ikalgo's forehead.

"Thanks for being my friend, too," the omega murmured as he turned his nails into claws.

"I'm happy," Ikalgo mentioned. "I'm happy that you're the one to take my life. It's better than being mercilessly killed by an enemy,"

Killua smiled through the tears. "I'm sorry,"

Killua stared at his blood covered hands a few moments later, body trembling as he cried silently. He felt like he might lose his mind.

"There you are!" The bee ant's voice reached him. "So you killed him?"

Killua turned with a vicious glare, eyes connecting with the snakes, and suddenly, his body grew numb and stiff at the same time, moving against his will as he walked to the snakes side.

"What are you doing?" The bee asked dully.

The snake touched Killua's cheek once he was close enough. "The King wants to keep him," he stated.

The bee sighed as Killua's arms moved against his will, wrists crossing in front of his body as vines wrapped around them, tying them together.

"Now then, let's take you to our King,"

--

"Gon!" Knuckle shouted as he shook the alpha awake.

Gon groaned as he started to stir, his stomach and ribs ached fiercely as he forced his body to sit up. "What happened?" He asked after a moment.

"You were knocked out," Shoot replied, crouching in front of him.

Gon sighed as he rubbed the back of his head before his eyes snapped open and he gazed around the room, growing increasingly frantic.

"Where's Killua?" He asked, voice shaky as he started to fear the worst.

Knuckle and Shoot shared a look, both nervously glancing back at Morel, Knov and Palm.

"They have him," Palm stated after a moment.

Gon froze, eyes wide as his breathing grew shallow. "What do you mean they have him?" He questioned.

"They took him," Palm rephrased.

Gon's eyes grew wide in horror as he stood up, clumsily clambering to his feet, Shoot and Knuckle following him.

"We have to go back for him! Knov, open a portal for me," Gon stated, body tense as he walked forward determinedly.

"We can't do that, Gon," Shoot spoke up nervously.

Gon froze, body tense as he slowly turned around to glare at the older male, a dark look in his eyes. Knuckle tensed, he recognized that look.

"Why not?" Gon asked, voice dull and threatening.

"We're all too hurt, if we go back for him now, we'll only get killed," Knuckle replied.

Gon turned to face him fully, his aura starting to get darker and more agitated.

"You expect me to leave my mate there? With those things?! Who knows what they'll do to him!" Gon shouted.

Knuckled sighed, trying to calm down. "I know that, but-"

He was cut off as Gon grabbed him by the neck, slamming him into a wall. Shoot immediately tried to pry the younger off of Knuckle, but Gon was too strong.

"I refuse to leave him there!" Gon shouted.

Knuckle struggled for a while. "If you go now, you'll only end up getting killed! That won't be helpful to Killua at all!" He shouted.

Gon grit his teeth as he tightened his grip, refusing to listen to reason.

"You'll get Killua killed!" Knuckle shouted after a few more minutes of struggling.

Gon froze, eyes wide and desperate as he stepped back, releasing knuckle.

"Killua is fine," Palm spoke up, gaining the younger's attention. "I can see him, they're holding him in a cell for now,"

Gon nodded, turning and sitting against the wall, eyes turning darker and darker by the second as he tensed.

--

"I don't really remember much about that week, just that Palm would regularly give me updates on how Killua was doing," Gon told, staring at his free hand on his lap atop the blankets.

"What were they doing to you, Killua?" Ochaco asked softly after a few minutes.

Killua tensed, biting his lower lip. "The bee ant mostly experimented on me with her poisons, but she stopped after three days of failure," he replied.

The room grew quiet again until Killua sighed. "What I'm about to tell you guys, might upset you, but I think everyone really wants to know what happened, what the King did," he stated. "If, at any point, any of you get too uncomfortable, I need you to tell me and I'll stop,"

"Shouldn't you be more worried about yourself, though?" Eijirou asked. "Are you okay with talking about this?"

Killua smiled softly as he nodded. He didn't really want to tell them since he knew it would greatly upset them all, but he also knew that they all wanted to know. So Killua took a deep breath.