Gosh, my updating schedule is just... I feel so bad leaving you guys hanging. I don't recall school being this busy last year. And I haven't even gotten around to some of the stuff outside of school I need to concern myself with. Also, me having no social media is finally about to bite me in the ass, so we love that. GAH! Anyway, I'll do my best not to leave you guys waiting for too long for the next chapter, but yeesh, my updating schedule is kinda screwed. Hope you enjoy this chapter, at least.

I'm forced awake the second the sun rises when Killua untangles me from him. The temperature's already begun to rise with the return of light, but it's still not in a place where I can do anything but sleep. I cling onto him as best I can in the groggy state that I am, but it's hardly any time at all before he's successfully left me sitting on my own. Grumbling, I lay down and stretch out, eyes closed as I wait for the sun to come back with its heat.

When the sun finally breeches the edges of the rocky crevice we're in, I sit up. Killua's already long gone, Estelle and Lim nowhere in sight. Alluka's out, head atop her brother's backpack. I hone in on Hank, the ugly beast, and Mordred, who stand a ways away by the water's edge.

When I say ugly beast, what I mean to say is that Hank's hideousness may only be second to Matta. His dirty pinkish flesh looks engorged around his shape, which is too stretched for what should be a boar. Each of his three pairs of legs look like bulbous, hard utters with freakish little hooves connecting them to the ground. Flimsy dark hairs spot his snouted face, and the obscenely long tusks protruding from his mouth lift his top lips in a stomach churning grin. Judging by the crescent curvature of his eyes, he's in the same boorishly happy mood as yesterday.

Mordred's even more intimidating. There's something beautiful about her lanky height, rigid posture, and her coloration of mixed browns, but her enormous, bulging eyes with blurry pupils carry the gaze of one who kills without caring, and her hinged scythes for arms give off the same feeling as seeing Killua with his sharpened, hardened nails. Ugh, and the wings folded over her abdomen don't make it any better!

Her dotted excuses for pupils fix on me the second I look her way. While the rest of her stands like a stone, her mouth parts shift as if with a mind of their own.

Hank follows her gaze, and when he spies me, he clops in my direction, spewing, "Good morning Sera! Want to join us hunting for food?"

"What do you even eat?" I wonder, narrowing my eyes at the insult to vision. It's a question that's been in me since I heard they don't eat humans, even the ones they killed in defense.

"There's some little critters living in the cave the water comes from that breed quicker than rabbits! And when the bushes are ripe we eat those!"

While Hank runs his mouth, behind him, Mordred starts to move. Gangly legs carry her over until she stands not far behind Naii. The ant's head cocks sideways. After a moment of silence, a whispery voice says, "This one is hostile. I want to cut it up."

Hank starts blustering that she can't, but Naii calmly gets to her feet and turns to face the giant praying mantis. This time when Mordred's mouthparts move, it's as if she anticipates biting off the human woman's head. Naii very simply shifts one foot slightly behind the other in a stance prepared to fight. I place my bet, on gut instinct, on Naii as Hank stumbles over in a rush to stop them.

Though it'd be great if they just killed each other.

Why did Killua leave me with these eyesores? When's he gonna get back?

My attention shifts when, for the first time since we've arrived, the large sphere hiding the shadows moves into the light. His large eyes are implanted on a surprisingly flat face, his body a dark blue approaching black, with spots of actual black if you look close enough.

An owl ant, although he struts forward on the legs of a chicken.

"Whoo. Do not instigate our help, Mordred. Whoo. So long as she poses no threat, she is not our concern."

"It wants to cause us harm," the mantis argues. "And its presence irritates me."

"Whoo. Stand down."

The human and ant stare each other down, daring the other to make a move.

Then, without a sound, Mordred turns and creeps away. Hank hobbles after. I don't heed his invitation. Going a short time without food is well worth staying away from those monstrosities. Tar watches them go. Only after they've gone back to the overhang this colony seems to like so much does Naii ease her stance.

I lament my loss of possible entertainment, and resort to poking Alluka's cheek to wake her up.

As the girl grumbles and shifts in her sleep, I keep watch on the other two still here out of the corner of my eye. Although the woman no longer looks prepped to fight, she stares hard at Tar, her aura none too friendly. The owlish ant returns the stare without any aggression.

Then, without prompt, he says, "Whoo. I am sorry for your loss. It is truly terrible to lose a child."

Even with the distance between us, I can feel Naii's aura go rigid. Tar's head bobs, eyelids halfway shut.

"The grief is tormenting. Whoo. But I ask that you not hold it against us, unless we were the ones who killed him."

With that said, the owl turns around and struts back to the darkness of the overhang. Modred and Hank have disappeared from it. Probably the entrance to the cave's in there. Naii watches until he's reentered his shelter, then turns her gaze on me. I grimace and turn away. I poke at Alluka's cheek until the girl finally comes awake.

The day passes with card games. Alluka introduces me to some new ones, but the one where we ask for cards from each other is too slow to be interesting, and we immediately discover the one we slap our hands on the jacks puts both the cards and Alluka's hands in danger if she doesn't use Nen, so we end up mostly playing the game she taught me before. I think she called it War? We eat the dry food from Killua's backpack when Alluka asks if I'm hungry, but if anything, the morsels only make me hungrier. Another one of those snakes would be great right about now. If I could've just eaten that human I killed...but Killua would've actually been angry if I'd done that. I'm actually pretty glad all he gave me was a whack when he straight up threatened to kill me if I even injured one of his kind. I'd say that's a win for me. We should stop bothering with ants and go find more aggressive humans. Easy slaughters are so nice.

By the time Killua, Estelle, and Lim return, it's already started to get dark again. First thing when they arrive, Estelle opens her cloak and drops a bundle of clothes onto the ground. Then with a huff she goes straight to the pond and cups some water into her mouth. Lim follows her over. Killua and Alluka exchange a greeting before Killua plops down next to her with a huff of his own. I put down my hand of cards.

When Estelle and Lim have drank their fill, they head over to the other three inside the cave. After a few brief words, it's Tar that comes out to talk to Killua.

"Whoo. You overheard that the humans will attack tonight. Whoo. We have yet to fight without killing. What do you propose?"

"That depends. If you're willing to trust us with your Nen abilities, we'll be able to collaborate better, but I'm not gonna force you to tell us. You're a squadron leader, right? Even without my help, I bet you could put some sort of plan together."

The enormous owl settles a short distance away, only the top of his head still in the last bits of red light. After a few seconds, he says, "I am a conjurer." Then, without the rest of his body so much as flinching, he turns his head to face the rock wall, and his head and throat begin to bob as if he'll throw up. Just as I begin to grimace in disgust, he opens his beak and projects something at an unnerving speed that smashes into the wall and sticks. When the debris around it settles, I can vaguely make out the jagged structure of what almost looks like spinal bones. Tar turns his head back to us, giant eyes wide and piercing. Killua sits a bit straighter.

"Whoo. I recreate things I've eaten, and can eject them similar to the way human guns work. Whoo. I will let the others decide if they trust you with their abilities."

"Thanks for trusting us. In return, I'll tell you a bit about my own ability." Resting an elbow on his crossed legs, Killua holds up a finger and thumb and displays a bolt of blue. "I transmute electricity. I can make it on my own, but it's a lot more effective if I can charge it from a source. You've already seen how I can use it for speed, but it's also good for offense."

Seeing he's done with his explanation, Tar hoots, "You also have my gratitude for trusting us with your ability."

I scowl. "You never gave me an explanation of your ability."

"Never needed to. And it's not like you haven't figured it out, right? You've seen me use it lots of times."

"I'm an enhancer!" Hank suddenly blunders over to add in his own information. "If you ever need a lot of strength, I can provide!"

Even though I'm sure most ants have plenty of strength compared to humans, Killua still smirks, "Thanks."

No one else offers up anything else, but neither Tar nor Killua seems too fazed about it. Still, as the two of them discuss what Killua overheard, everyone gravitates closer to hear.

"I just have one request," Killua finishes, holding up a finger. Then he points that finger at Alluka. "She stays hidden, and someone has to stay with her to protect her. If anything happens and she ends up hurt, you lose our help. If she dies, so do you."

"I'll do it."

I blink, and glance at Naii. She stands a short ways behind me with folded arms. As I'm still processing her choice, Tar adds, "Whoo. Lim doesn't like to fight. He will stay with her, as well."

Killua briefly considers this, then agrees. "Alright. In that case, Sera and I can serve as front-line fighters with Hank. These," he leans over and grabs the pile of clothes Estelle brought, "we can wrap around his tusks so he can use them without accidentally piercing anyone." He glances at Hank. "That way, as long as you're careful not to hit anyone too hard, you should be able to fight without killing people. I'll leave the placement of the others up to your discretion."

He says the last bit to Tar again as he drops the cloth back on the ground.

I lean back on my hands. "You really expect me to not kill humans who are trying to kill me?"

"And no maiming," he adds. I bare my fangs. "You're skilled enough to do it."

"Of course I am!" I bite. "That doesn't mean it's not a pain! Any human who so much as looks at me funny deserves to have their blood drained, and you want me to take care not to even maim them?" A chill runs over me, and I jolt upright. "And in this temperature! You expect me to be so generous when it's gonna be cold?"

Killua clicks his tongue. "Damn, forgot about that."

"You forgot about it? Well that's just splendid, 'cause I sure as hell can't perform my best if it's gonna be as cold as last night!"

He looks up, because in my outburst I've shot to my feet. It's already dark enough that I can't see his expression. "Which means, that temperature won't kill you?"

"No," I huff. "But you may as well tie me to a boulder and ask me to fight. Not to mention," I swing my arm pointedly, "I'm already injured!"

I can't see him, but there's a smile in his voice when he says, "Something as small as that isn't going to slow you down."

"Fine, sure, but the cold is still a problem. You got a solution for that?"

"The humans will have to bring fire, does that solve your problem?" Estelle crudely interjects.

"Why would they bring fire?" Alluka wonders.

"What else are they gonna bring, the sun? They can't fight if they can't see."

"Why wouldn't they use flashlights?"

"Huh? What are flashlights?"

"Flashlights are too small," Killua explains for his sister. "It'd be hard to handle one and a weapon at the same time. There's a possibility they could have some attached to some guns, but that's assuming they use guns. They've already figured out those are ineffective against the ants here, even if they don't know it's because of Nen. They'll probably bring out fire in one form or another as long as they have the fuel to do it. In which case," his shape shifts to suggest he's looking at me, his tone turning pleased with himself, "the more into the fight you are, the closer you'll be to heat."

"Fine."

Clearly, he's not letting me off. In that case, I'll do a damn perfect job and let him see just how skilled I really am. He may be stronger, but I'm by no means weak!

I step over to him and sit back down, leaning up against his side. "Then until they come, you get to be my heat source again."

This chapter was so hard to write for some reason, but maybe the next chapter will be easier? Not gonna lie, I'm looking forward to writing it. *rubs hands together maniacally* Do I have evil plans? No, probably not. I just have a premonition that I will enjoy it. But what are your guys' impression of these ants so far? Have I already asked this question? This is a sign I haven't updated enough recently if I don't know. But I'd love to hear you impressions of them!