Finished my second play-through of fire emblem 3 houses. I think I'm gonna push off my third, because I need to prove to myself I have some semblance of self control. But yeah. Now that I'm taking a break, hopefully I'll be able to write more consistently again. I'm pretty happy about this chapter. It came pretty easily to me. But yeah, without further ado, let's get to it, shall we?

They hardly fit in the car the people took them in. Gon ended up having to sit on Snake's lap. She didn't particularly mind, and he had more to worry about than where he was forced to sit. No one really said anything about it.

The blonde woman kept pressing them as they drove, draping an arm over Killua's shoulders and resting her hand on Gon, the latter of which kept snapping at her that he didn't know anything while Killua remained dead silent. Snake took the opportunity to rest her chin on Gon's shoulder and nap. Her ticking mind had eaten away into her sleeping hours recently, and with the thought that she was on the right track to appease her confusion, and nothing else really to do but wait, right then was as good a time as any.

The Troupe didn't drive directly to their base. Instead they parked in a nondescript parking lot, populated by a few other cars, and ushered the three hunters —or two. Now that she thought about it, Killua hadn't gotten his license, had he?— away from what little population that was around. They ended up in a block of the city where the wind whispered of a ghost town.

The building they entered was neither tall nor short, nothing about it particularly remarkable until they got inside. Then, the only thing of significant note was the partially broken stained glass in the ceiling. There were too many clouds, though, for it to be illuminated. The space itself was wide and open, ruins that were likely once upper floors giving shape to an otherwise empty space. Seven people sat atop the rubble.

The one Snake's eyes landed on was none other than the joker.

"Welcome to our base." Again, it was the blonde woman who spoke. Then she looked up at the Troupe's number four. "And Hisoka, you have a visitor."

He raised a brow at that, and Snake sucked up her discomfort at having anything to do with the man.

"Hello."

Suddenly all of the attention was on her, the Troupe curious as to Hisoka's acquaintance, and the boys shocked at her apparent friendliness to the psycho.

"Hello~" Unlike her yellow-flecked hazel eyes, his were ever molten gold, and his gaze weighed just as much as he observed his apparent visitor. "What brings you to see me? Last I recall, you were reluctant to deal with me. Why was it again? Because I could kill you?"

Part of her wanted to bring out her scales just at the sound of his voice, but she quenched the urge. It was precisely the part of him that made her want to avoid him that made him useful to her now.

When she took her time to respond, though, the blonde woman jumped in for her. "It seems she has some personal matters to attend to. We can get to that later. For now, let's address the fact that these three were stalking Machi and Nobunaga. Or more particularly, these two," she clarified, eying the boys.

"Huh? Why does she get out of this?" Killua complained.

The woman eyed him, but gave him no answer.

"Oh, I remember."

All eyes went to the boy dressed all in black. He paused before he continued.

"These two...they arm wrestled Shizuku."

"Huh?" The only girl on the rubble looked up from her magazine and blinked, wide eyes behind round glasses. "I don't remember that."

"Oh yeah. You lost, remember?" the giant man with dangling earlobes added.

"I wouldn't lose to a kid."

"You were using your right hand."

"Why would I do that? I'm left handed."

"Forget it. Once Shizuku forgets, she does not remember."

The conversation appeared to pique the interest of the man with long hair who had brought them in. "So you beat Shizuku, huh?" He reached back to tie up his hair. "Alright. I'll challenge you, then."

No one seemed to have any problem with the man's whim, and the match was set. Seeing Gon's hand get smashed against the broken concrete over and over again, Snake's first instinct was to grab their hands and stop what she could only call bullying. She didn't, though. If she wanted to observe the Phantom Troupe, it would behoove her not to get in their way. And besides, the boy never complained, even when his hand began to drip blood. While the match went on, the man talked quite a bit. He talked about a man named Uvogin, and also the one called the Chain User. Pieces began to connect in her head as he did.

Recently, Uvogin had encountered the Chain User, and had disappeared, and from what the Troupe had surmised, the Chain User held a grudge against them. The timing seemed to fit, and although Kurapika had never outright told her about his purpose and motivations, revenge seemed a likely case. All signs were beginning to point to him being the one at odds with the Troupe. Now the question was this: Do the Troupe a favor and tell them this, or do Kurapika a favor and keep it to herself?

Kurapika's welfare was truly none of her business, but considering he had helped her out a bit when she was at a loss at what to do, it was probably only proper that she refrain from speaking.

...Yeah, that felt right. Even if she wasn't some kind of hero, she still had decency. A little courtesy went a long way in convincing people to do you favors, after all. And besides, the blonde woman had seemed rather willing to accommodate her even without her giving away useful information. She might as well keep her conclusion close in case it might be helpful in the future.

Now, what did such a line of thought make her? She didn't feel like bending it. As far as she could tell, it was the most rational conclusion. She could tell that deciding to tell the Troupe would be the more 'villainous' choice...but she wasn't inclined to it. But didn't her inclinations towards death make her a villain?

"What's on your mind?" drawled a voice next to her ear. Although she didn't flinch, white scales did surface on that side of her face and neck.

"A personal conundrum," she answered easily. The others didn't bother to look their way, but it was doubtful they were ignoring their conversation.

"I see...and does this 'personal conundrum' of yours...have something to do with a certain assassin?"

This finally caused her to look at him out of the corner of her eye. His head was cocked sideways as he bent over to look at her eye-level, that same smirk she remembered stretched across his lips.

"Do you know something?"

"I know a lot of things~"

"Either name your price or leave me alone. That isn't what I came looking for."

"Oh?" She felt the tip of his nail drag across the skin and scales on the back of her neck. "Has this little snake uncoiled herself from around his neck?"

More like he uncoiled her and left her without anything to grasp.

For some reason, though, his words recalled to mind the bite Illumi had let her sink into the base of his thumb. He could have easily prevented her from breaking skin. Why didn't he? A parting gift? As thanks for helping him even against her will? He'd even allowed her to upright poison him shortly before. He certainly wasn't what one would call generous, and he didn't do things without purpose.

Part of her scolded her for dwelling so heavily on it when she should be more concerned with how she was going to live her life, and what role she fit into if not that of the heroine, but the mystery Illumi left behind still badgered her relentlessly.

The tension in the room suddenly spiked when Gon actually managed to push over the Troupe member's hand, and an argument broke out when the boy in black pinned Gon with an arm behind his back. They flipped a coin, though, and the boy backed off with a mere click of the tongue. Snake wasn't sure what to think of that. On one hand, it was an easy way to solve conflict. On the other, it seemed strange to leave any decision up to chance, rather than coming to a thought out verdict.

A ding suddenly drew everyone's attention, and it took her a minute to realize what it was. All eyes were on her yet again as she drew her phone from her pocket and looked at the screen.

They're recruiting assassins to help guard the auction tonight. If you're interested, I can recommend you.

"Oh? Seems like this little snake will be attending the auction tonight."

"You're telling me to go," she deciphered, still staring at the screen even after it went black.

"Well, I won't know for certain what you came for unless you tell me, but I have a hunch that you might enjoy yourself there tonight."

After a moment of thought, she opened her phone and replied in the affirmative.

"She's being allowed to leave, then?" Killua piped.

"I agree with the child," the boy in black stated. Feitan, the long haired man had called them during their argument. "Are we just letting her leave?"

"Despite the fact she was following them, she harbors no ill intent or deceptive purpose," the blonde woman replied. Snake was still unsure how she knew such a thing, but she wasn't wrong, so she let it be. "And from what I saw, Hisoka is not incorrect. Call me soft if you will, but she's a confused young woman, and I frankly pity her. I brought her because I agreed with her guess that we could help. It is still unclear what will happen tonight, but most likely I do believe it will probably do her some good."

"Soft's a good word for it," the blonde man grunted.

"If that's what Paku says, then I'm in," a younger blonde boy said, hopping down off his rubble perch. He cast Snake a friendly smile. "You can leave. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll see each other again tonight!"

Snake glanced at Killua and Gon, who very clearly did not understand what was going on. "What about them?"

"I want to keep them here." It was the man who'd arm wrestled Gon. He grinned at the boy in green. "I'd like to ask the boss if that boy can join us. He reminds me of Uvogin."

"I wouldn't join you in a million years!" With that, Gon stuck out his tongue. The man just laughed.

"That's how it is. I'm just going to keep watch over them until the boss gets back. They'll be fine, as long as they don't try to escape. If the boss doesn't want him to join, we'll let 'em go."

That sounded fine to Snake. Putting her phone back in her pocket, she bowed her head in goodbye. "Thank you for having me, then."

The perky blonde boy laughed. "Thanks for dropping by! And hey, if after tonight there's still something we can help you with, feel free to come back and talk to me! I can't say I'm not curious as to why Paku's so fond of you. Oh, or even better yet, why don't you just take my number?"

He stepped over to her and held out his hand. After a second, she guessed at what he meant and gave him her phone. He typed something into it, then handed it back. "You know, it's not good not to have a password. You should make one."

"I'll consider it."

As she made her way out, Hisoka waved. "Have fun~"

Gotta love the Phantom Troupe! If you've read any of my other HxH stories, you'll know that I absolutely adore them. I wasn't entirely sure at the beginning of this story that they'd get any page time, but sure enough here they are! And maybe we'll get to see some more of them! You'll just have to wait and see!