A/N: Thanks for reading!
Some news:
- The prologue + chapters 1, 2, 3, and 45 have been edited (yes, I know, the order is kinda random). Some scenes have been deleted, others have been added, but overall the plot remains the same. The biggest change is that now Killua's hair is long enough to tie in a tiny ponytail :D If you're curious, check the tumblr poisonedamaryllis under the tag "art of the story"; there is a picrew I made that shows his appearance
- It is possible that you see conflicting info in the earlier chapters (for example, the length of Killua's hair) because I haven't finished editing everything. Again, the plot remains the same! I'm not gonna drastically change anything.
- That being said, I think the banter in the edited chapters is a lot better and funnier, and Killua got like 100 cute points so check that out :D
- As I said before, I'm currently updating the chapters. Edits will be dated (on the top and bottom A/N). If you see a mention that a chapter was edited, but no date, it means I edited the A/N (usually to delete big chunks of it). Notice how much lighter the story is? That's because I deleted most A/N.
- I'll try to avoid long A/N unless they're necessary, like here. If you have questions in your reviews, feel free to ask here, but I'll answer on tumblr if they're related to world-building or to the story. That being said, poisonedamaryllis accepts questions (in asks) from anons so you can also shoot your questions there!
- For those of you who are interested, I finished uploading the chapters of my other fic, Lost Anemone, a polyamorous Hana/Killua/Gon fic I wrote for the HxH Big Bang 2019! Check it out ;)
Now that this is all out of the way, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
cw: discussions of human trafficking, discussions of epidemics, mentions of dead children
Note: Smut and sexual, mature content will no longer be announced in the content warnings (but if you don't like reading smut, why are you even reading this fic lol).
By sexual content, I do not include graphic sexual assault, which I won't write. You might find discussions, mentions, or allusions to sexual assault though, which will be announced beforehand in the cw.
Chapter posted on: March 21st 2021
Chapter 49: Plagues and Candies
When Hana and Lynd finally dropped their bags in their shared hotel room, neither of them had the energy for much besides a much needed trip to the closest restaurants. Snacks were great, but they didn't fulfill the need for substance.
Once they were both ready, their hunt for a good and near place started. The hotel they had chosen was quite popular, located near the beach, so restaurants naturally flocked around it. One in particular promised Tanalean food and Hana was dying for some shawarma.
"The Amaryllis Crown," she read out. Generic Tanalean restaurant; she trusted it.
"My kingdom for some sayyediyeh," Lynd moaned, reading the menu displayed on a large board at the entrance of the restaurant. "In a littoral city? God, I bet the fish will be fresh and, dare I say, delicious."
Hana made a face. "There's no 'delicious' fish, just dysfunctional taste buds."
"I don't know; I'm pretty sure I taste some bitterness in those words."
"Oh my god, stop." She chuckled as Lynd elbowed her.
The restaurant was every bit as Tanalean as Hana had expected. The room smelled of sesam, sugar, and the sweet fumes of apple-flavored arguileh. Colorful arabesques adorned the windows like iridescent smiles, the lights pouring from the lanterns bouncing on their surface. But beside the colors and the warm lighting, beside the TV that broadcasted a Tanalean drama, and even beside the old Tanalean calligraphy carved in the faux-ceiling, it was the pictures that caught Hana's attention the most.
Most of the pictures were vintage, but some were animated thanks to dream hunter technology, a nen trick to make images move without electricity elaborated by dream hunters — the kind of hunters who specialized in art. There were numerous shots of the Dancing Shepherdesses, a statue of two female lovers who had, in the legend, discovered the Tanalean amaryllis and its virtues. Through different angles was also a sculpture of entwined roses with, at their core, a nest of ivory nightingales. And, of course, it wouldn't be a Tanalean restaurant if the owner didn't brag about his daughter's wedding, the smiling bride dancing in a dabke with the groom-to-be and their guests.
There weren't a lot of people inside, but the only other customers were engrossed in a loud conversation with the owner. Judging from the shouts and enthusiastic laughter from the kitchen, the cook was also involved. The owner promptly left the customers when he saw Lynd and Hana, greeting them with a big smile. "Follow me, I have a nice table for you," he offered, leading them to a quiet place near a large window that gave onto the beach.
The window was bordered by a sequence of moving pictures featuring the same women, dressed in vibrant abayas. In one picture they were harvesting the Tanalean amaryllises; in the next, they were plucking the petals and plunging them in rosewater. Then, they filtered the dye and dried the petals for candy-making. And in the last, all of them were gathered around a large plate of amaryllis ink, some of them dipping tiny paint brushes into it to draw tattoos on their skins, the other applying henna instead.
"The view is sublime," Lynd commented.
"Sure is, ma'am." He placed two laminated menus on the table as the girls sat down. "Although a few weeks ago we had a strange creature that crashed there. You can't imagine the panic. We had a totally different view back then."
"A creature?" Hana repeated.
"It was big like a whale, very much dead or almost so. I first thought it would be bad for tourism but people love these things."
Hana peered at the beach. The golden sand and unperturbed line of the sea looked so bright, it was hard to imagine a dead whale emerging from the limpid water. "Did anyone take pictures?"
"Pictures, videos, everything. For a week we had people coming from all around to see the beast until the Hunter Association removed it to examine it." He bent and showed her his phone. "See, this is me. I was interviewed by a journalist from York Shin," he explained, boasting as he showed her a video of the interview. "We went viral for a little while, then people forgot about it."
He said that as if it were a bad thing, but Hana didn't miss the cautious edge in his words. Humans had a fascination with death and all its minions — pestilence, tragedies, viruses, murder — that neither Hana nor this restaurant owner were exempt from. It scared them as much as it beckoned them. Sometimes she wondered if it was a way to cope with the inevitable, accept the unacceptable, let it take a little room in your life so that when it happened, the slope was less steep. Other times, it felt more like an ode to life; only the living could fear death.
"That's creepy, to be quite honest," Lynd said with a laugh.
"It truly was." He nodded toward their menus. "I'll let you choose your meals. Any drinks?"
Hana and Lynd respectively ordered a lemonade and some iced tea.
"Noted. Oh, by the way, we have a big shortage of red meat lately with the cattle incidents. Our meat is locally sourced but the local farms have all gone in quarantine. I can replace the meat with poultry instead."
Well, there went Hana's shawarma. She could technically order one with poultry but it just wasn't the same. Besides, if was going to have poultry, chich taouk would be her go-to choice. "Fine by me. I've already chosen actually. I'll have one chich taouk. Do you have entries?"
"The mezze has been decimated — no meat fatayer, kibbeh, sfiha, or lahme madu'ah. But we can put together a vegetarian mezze if you want. Hommos mutabbal, wara 'enab, baba ghannuj, falafel, fatayer homeida, mana'ish zaatar…" He sighed. "I can also throw in some tabbuleh and fattush. I know it's not optimal but until we find a new supplier, I'd rather avoid all the red meat." He pointed toward the menu, at the fish section. "The fish will also be defrosted. Local fishing companies have been stalled by the… thing."
Lynd made a face, a mixture of understanding and disappointment. "That's fine. I guess I'll stick to chich taouk too. It looks really inconvenient for you."
"It is, but you know the saying; better safe than sorry."
"How come the fowl wasn't affected by the epidemic?" Hana asked.
"Oh, I don't know if they were," he admitted. "Our poultry is shipped from Desuvie; it's not too far from here — they're known for the best fowl. I avoided fowl from local farms because I believe they're not free-range, so I don't know if anything happened to them."
"I see. Thanks for the info."
The owner briefly put a hand over his heart before leaving to the kitchens, announcing the dishes to the cook on his way.
Nothing like a spontaneous cattle epidemic to welcome them to Impala City. "The city looks like it's covering something murky," Hana said, staring out the window. The beaches were almost empty save for a few brave tourists; nothing like the postal cards with bird's view pictures of hundreds of colorful parasols.
"Yeah… I really hope whatever hit the cattle will stay on the cattle."
"You think it could be linked to this 'whale' he mentioned? The one that crashed on the beach?"
Lynd shrugged. When she readjusted her tank top, it displayed a straight line of lighter-colored skin behind the displaced strap. "We could ask around."
The meals arrived fast, two gigantic plates of spicy, marinated chicken, with the trademark Tanalean rice stuffed with pine nuts and raisins. There was no minced meat inside, as per the owner's words, but he had replaced it with a little — surely defrosted — maanek on the side. Clearly, he was making sure they were getting their money's worth despite the dire state of his menu, spoiling them with twice as much flat Tanalean bread, kabis, and small cups of laban than were necessary.
With a dramatic flourish Hana's uncle would have loved, he placed the mezze in the center, then filled their water glasses, replaced the empty glasses from their early drinks with bottles of olive oil with dried peppers floating inside.
And finally, he brought them a plate of cheese. Roasted hallum, fresh kashkaval, and unsalted mjaddul. "On the house," he announced with a grin. "Bon appétit!"
The girls barely had time to thank him and he was already gone, sitting next to the other customers and laughing loudly with them.
That was the thing Hana loved about Tanaleans. They made you feel at home no matter where you were.
When she was younger, Hana didn't get why food supposedly healed MMORPG characters. Sure, chocolate healed the soul — her boy had plenty to say about that — and grapefruits healed the heart — that he might argue with — but… physical wounds? Nah. Never sat right with her, but it made as much sense as Sims high-fiving their way into marriage so she understood the game logic.
That day, however, Hana felt physically healed. There was something in that knefeh that had stuck together all the drifting pieces of her. Maybe it was the cheese… or the atyr and rosewater. Either way, she was thankful for it. Because when she and Lynd stopped in front of Maria Cornello's house — or well, her family's — she had a strong feeling their discussion would be… scuffed, to say the least. She would need her strengths and her wits.
Maybe it was the wariness in the mother's gaze, when she opened the door and looked at them like they were criminals — or worse, the cops. Or the father, sitting in their garden with a book, eyeing them from behind his glasses without hiding his disdain. It was fair, really. Maria's evidence being trifled with by Malzi and his minions — or someone higher than him on the food chain — was proof enough that Maria's family had endured a lot.
"Hello!" Hana greeted, reiling in her cheeriest tone.
Maria's mother, Felicia, stood in the doorway, barring access to the inside, but a large picture of Maria at the entrance stared back at Hana through the opening. Below was a garland of black feathers overlooking an open Etorian bible. In her research about the small country, Hana had read a little about their mythology, customs, and traditions. The garland was a symbol for the murder of crows supposed to escort the soul of a deceased to the Heavens, and the bible open on the prayer for birth and resurrection helped the soul find its way back home, would it visit earth again.
It was a funeral tradition.
"You are?" Felicia asked, not bothering with a hello. Her face was impassive. A small dog appeared in the way, pushing its snout past Felicia's leg before shooed him away, the pitter patter fading off.
"I'm Hana Torana."
"And I'm Lynd Terra. We were wondering if you had a moment to talk about your daughter, Maria."
"Why, are you cops? Journalists? Those stupid kids obsessed with 'true crime' for their YouTube channel?"
"I'm a hunter," Hana answered. "I'm working on a case possibly linked to your daughter's disappearance." Or her death. No one was waiting for her safe return in that family.
Felicia's face reddened. "Get out. Get the hell out of here before I make you."
Lynd took a step forward. "Miss Cornello, we might have a lead on what happened to her—"
"Oh please, we all know what happened to my girl!" Felicia shouted. In the garden, the father, Augusto, stood up with a long sigh. "There was never a case, now stop bothering us, you vultures!"
Augusto gently pushed the girls back, right as Hana was about to try the good-but-pushy-girl method — sporting a sympathetic face while presenting evidence and slowly moving forward. By the time they'd realize she was in their house, the recipient would be too engrossed with the evidence to turn her back, but Augusto didn't give Hana the opportunity to present her evidence or million-jenny smile.
"Please, don't bother us about this. We've been trying to mourn for years," he quietly explained.
"You don't get it," Hana insisted. "Her search warrant has been tampered with. Every picture of her has been switched with another woman's, I can show you—"
"No more questions," he raised his voice. Inside the house, the dog started barking as Felicia ranted in Etorian. Hana specifically understood the word 'bitch', because she had looked it up specifically for this occasion. Amazing. "Drop it."
He closed the door in their face, without any courtesy or explanation, and locked it.
Hana and Lynd stood there, still dumbfounded that they had been rejected so brutally. At the back of her mind, Hana wondered just how much this case had ruined this family, if this was their reaction to potentially new evidence. They didn't even want answers or explanations. Just peace.
The girls didn't dwell on their failure, though. And there would be no need to hack the Cornellos' personal computer or infiltrate their house during their absence, because whoever had watched the commotion from behind their quaint little bucolic curtains on the first floor was about to betray their parents for them.
So Hana led Lynd to a nearby park, sitting on a shadowed bench away from the Cornellos' house, and when her friend asked her what her plan was, she just said: "We wait."
Patience had never been Hana's virtue. Fortunately for her, the person she had noticed behind the curtain didn't make them wait too long.
"Hello?" she started in a timid voice. She didn't look like Maria, with her tan skin and amber eyes, but she had the same, unmistakable soft cheeks. The same Felicia had surely once had before grief dug into her face. "Are you the hunter that visited earlier?"
Visited was a kind word for 'bothering your parents about their daughter's disappearance only to be rejected like a frat boy at a party.' "Hi!" Hana greeted. "Yes, I'm the hunter. I don't mean to be creepy but I saw you watching us earlier. I'm… really sorry. I probably worried your parents. Or I assume they're your parents."
"It's okay. They're always worried anyways." She sat on the grass in front of the girls. "I'm Celia, and yeah, they're my parents." She glanced at Lynd. "Are you a hunter too?"
Lynd blinked. "No, I'm the police chief of Megamshill."
At that, Celia tensed, a gesture that wasn't missed on Lynd. "I see. You said you had found new evidence about my sister. My parents don't want to hear a thing about her, but I'm interested in what you wanted to show them."
"Sure." Hana grabbed her purse, digging into its content for Maria's folder. If she wanted Celia's cooperation, she needed to show her she was trustworthy. Celia was their biggest chance of gaining information on Maria; they had to prove they were worthy of that information. "Although I need to warn you; it doesn't look good. I don't know if she's anywhere to be found. I saw your family was in mourning; I assume you already made up your mind about her?"
Celia shrugged. "I think she's dead. I just want to know why."
At least she was honest. "Alright."
After skimming through the pictures of the newspapers Killua had sent Hana, she handed two documents to Celia. The first was the proof of tampering, with Maria's search notice in the newspapers' and the police's database featuring another woman in her place. The second, which she could only show in a picture, was the old search warrant she had managed to save before it was corrupted. "The files got tampered with recently," Hana explained. "I'm not sure why yet; maybe my research triggered a panic reaction from people involved with her disappearance." She nodded toward the documents. "Do you, by any chance, recognize the other woman?"
Celia shook her head. "No. But I can confirm it's not Maria." She waved the original search notice. "This one is though."
"Thanks for the confirmation." Hana put her phone in her bag. "And by the way, not to be alarming, but you and your family will need to be careful. With the official files being straight-up photoshopped, there's no telling how far whoever did this will go to erase the evidence." She stared into Celia's eyes. "The evidence being you, in this case."
This didn't seem to spark any fear in Celia. "We'll deal with that."
Regardless of Celia's confidence, Hana and Lynd both left Celia their number, instructing her to call or text, would she need anything. Then, Hana took a tablet from her bag and opened a notes application. "Now that we got that out of the way, I'd like to ask you some questions about Maria. There's little info about her. I'm gonna assume everything available in her case is bullshit. Like for example, the official report says it's unclear when exactly she disappeared, but they place it around September-October, four years ago. They say a witness last saw her on October 2nd, jogging. Then, no one else."
Celia scoffed. "There can't be any jogging involved. My sister did not exercise."
"What about the last time you saw her?"
"It was on September 10th, four years ago. She was working for Ziam Torana at the time, as a maid at his mansion. Her coworker had asked her to come by on a day-off because he had a family emergency. I still remember on her way out, she told me his wife was recovering from childbirth and Ziam had some important business meetings he couldn't miss."
Something ticked in Hana's head. "September 10th," she repeated, her brow furrowing. "Ziam Torana's mansion burned on 12th, two days later. He and his entire family died."
"I heard, yes. Maria texted me a few times the days that followed the incident. She was shocked.
"And when's the last time you texted?"
Celia frowned. "On the 30th; she was telling me about a movie. Then, no news from her."
"And you didn't see her in person?"
"No. She said she needed time after the death of the Toranas. They were pretty close; she was about to quit to open a bookshop, and Ziam wanted to support her project and associate with her. And she loved his kids. That's why I never really gave much thought to it when she said she needed to be alone. I assumed she was mourning."
It was convenient that a coworker would ask Maria to ensure a shift on her day-off because of a 'family emergency', only for Ziam's house to burn a few days later, and for Maria to spend the remaining of the month texting her sister. And never meeting her. If Killua were here, he would have said this entire case smelled like shit.
He would be right, but Hana had no proof. Just a hunch. "What's the name of that coworker, by the way? The person who asked Maria to replace him."
"I don't remember, I think it was Bennie something? Bennie Drill? He was a gardener."
Hana scribbled the name, pursing her lips.
"Has anyone contacted you about the case before us?" Lynd then asked.
"Not that I know of. We occasionally have curious journalists or voyeurs but no officials. We originally moved here because we had received death threats, but they were all anonymous so I wouldn't be able to tell you if it was police pressure. My mother is convinced of it, though."
"What about you?" Lynd went on.
Celia pursed her lips. "I might agree with her. I don't think the cops are the only ones in on this case though. But you tell me, you're the cop."
Lynd gave a sad smile. "I know it's very cliché of cops to tell people they're not like other cops, so I won't pretend I'm not guilty, even by proxy. But I genuinely want to help you."
There was a short pause then, during which Celia just sighed and hugged her bag to her chest. Despite the years that had passed since Maria's disappearance, her eyes had this same wry, tired glimmer that Hana had seen in Maya's eyes when she would talk about Maes. That same glimmer she had seen in her own eyes, every time she felt too small and alone, watching her puffy eyebags in the bathroom mirror after another hangover. Grief never really went away; no matter how much you painted over it, at times the paint would crack.
"I want to believe you both," Celia broke the silence. "I… I have some files about Maria that I never gave the police, because I was scared they'd destroy the evidence and hurt me to keep me quiet. I tried investigating on my own but I'm not a detective. I have no lead." She stared at them both, gauging them while Hana was internally vibrating. "Will you help me?"
"It's in our best interest to help you," Hana explained. Speeches about doing the greater good wouldn't work — not that Hana even believed them. People were more likely to believe a personal agenda. Selfishness was easier to trust than selflessness, after all, which was also why sometimes Hana felt that Killua couldn't be real. "I'm working on a case linked to Ziam Torana's death. She appears to be linked to it as well. So if you want to hold onto something, hold onto that."
That did the trick. Wordlessly, Celia opened her purse and gave Hana a small SD card. "Here, it's a copy of everything I have. There should be texts, pics, voice messages. It's a backup from her phone, plus some notes I took, pics of the mail she got post-mortem, and recordings of interviews."
"You interviewed people on your own?" Lynd asked. "You do have the caliber for a detective."
Celia gave her first real smile since the start of their discussion. "It's easier to slip in the role when it's for someone you loved. But none of these recordings could be used in a court hearing; I took them all without informing the people I questioned." She shrugged.
"Noted. We'll see what we can do with it. Thanks Celia, that helped a lot," Hana said.
"Don't thank me yet." She stood up. "And let me know if you find anything."
"Will do."
With a slight nod in their direction, Celia packed her things and left.
The receptionist was concerned when Hana and Lynd barged into the hotel and raced to the elevator, only stopping to order dinner. Back into their room, Hana plugged the SD card into her laptop, skimming through its content while Lynd munched on a sandwich next to her. Outside, the sun had dipped below the line of the sea, the sky a gradient of orange and navy blue. Seagulls made a ruckus, their cries loud even through the closed windows.
"This whole thing is so fishy," Hana mumbled. "Right after the arson, suddenly she doesn't meet anyone in person anymore?"
"You think someone else was texting Celia? That'd be so damn creepy."
"I don't put it past our enemies."
One folder in the SD card was titled 'Videos'. Hana watched them all one by one, her stomach queasy when Ziam Torana's kids appeared in the frame. They were playing Mario Party with Maria, who was laughing in the video as the youngest kid threw a fit over losing a mini-game. To think these poor, young souls were all dead, calcined beyond recognition.
Another video featured Ziam, who was giving a speech to his youngest about multiplication tables. Maria was recording the video at his request, as he promised that if his youngest aced his test, he would get a 'vintage' gameboy color to play Wario world on. Despite her uneasiness, Hana found herself smiling at the child's determination. To think the toys she used to play with as a kid were considered 'vintage' four years ago…
However, it was the next video that shook her in her core.
Maria was laughing, as she did in a lot of her videos. She was filming the kids during a birthday party, and seemingly losing it at one of the kids eating a pizza with infinite cheese strings. At some point, a door opened behind them, and one kid ran toward the newcomer — dressed like a gardener — to offer him pizza.
"Oh, no, my hands are all dirty," he laughed, kneeling to greet the kid.
"Come on Bennie, you can't refuse a gift from a kid," Maria joked. Bennie, that was the coworker who had asked her to cover his shift when Celia last saw her sister. When Maria zoomed on him, talking about something Hana didn't get, Hana froze. She paused the video and slowly exhaled, staring at the gardener's face. With his pale blonde hair and the cross-shaped scar across his cheek, she was sure she had already seen him.
It took Hana a moment for the name to draw itself on her lips. Round, then open, then whistling and fleeing.
Owen Swatscher.
Owen was the linking element in many of Hana's sub-cases. He was one of the three mercenaries who killed Elias's family, then he and the two others started working for Faem. A little later, Owen died by the hand of Stelem Baroque, also known as the Wonderland killer, his memories stolen by the killer possibly still drifting across the Memory Market Hana and Killua were supposed to attend by the month of June. The Wonderland killer had been arrested thanks to Killua himself — and questioned just a few weeks ago at the Trick Tower by Killua.
But what was Owen doing in Ziam Torana's mansion, under another name, in a video taken by one of the maids that worked at his place? A maid who was most likely dead by now?
A maid he had plucked from a day-off to replace him at the mansion, two days before the arson?
If Hana had all her equipment and files, she would have thrown herself head first into that question. Unfortunately, she only had her laptop, which wouldn't allow for much research. Nevertheless, she shared her discovery with Lynd while attacking her dinner.
"There's literally no way this could be a coincidence," Lynd said. "None. I say he was an infiltrator and he got Maria killed for some reason. Maybe she knew he was up to no good. You said he was working for Faem?"
"Yeah, he was."
"The same Faem who's doing all this shit with the Malzi guy? Like, killing Eugene Priman, capturing Elias, all that stuff?"
"Yeah…"
"The Malzi whose nen ability kills people like a fire would, and then covers up his kills with arson…?"
"Yeah?"
"Just like Ziam died? With his whole family?"
Hana sighed. "... My God. That doesn't sound good."
Lynd broke a kitkat in half vertically — what in the hell — and gave half of it to Hana. "No, it doesn't."
"I'm just confused because Celia says Maria kept texting her afterwards, and they found six corpses on the scene of the crime. Or well, five; the baby supposedly was so small he burned to nothingness, which is horrible to say. Implying, Maria couldn't have been there. But asking her to replace him on a day-off two days before the fire sounds like an excuse to have her burn."
"Maybe he took her phone and made Celia believe she was alive, then stopped around a date past the arson to root her disappearance after Ziam's death. Because at some point, someone would have asked to see Maria; she couldn't be in mourning forever. If they killed her, they needed to officialize her disappearance. And as to why they didn't find her corpse… maybe she too burned completely? If the mansion burned for long enough, then technically the body could cremate in just a few hours."
"I suppose, but all this time we assumed Ziam and his family died from Malzi's curse, so the fire was used as a cover-up and didn't burn for as long as we think it did."
"Why the curse though? Arson is enough to kill a family. Not that I've tried, but you know."
Hana chortled. "A nen curse has more chances to kill than a fire. I assume they really wanted them dead."
With a huff, Lynd flopped on the bed. "I say we unearth the bodies and demand a re-examination. A new autopsy, conducted by a medical hunter. If it's Faem who did this, then the initial autopsy reports could have been tampered with," she suggested.
"We could do that, yes. We could also find who did the first autopsy and bully some info out of them."
Lynd snorted. "You sound eager."
"To find answers, yes. Not to bully an old man." Hana grinned. "To be fair, I imagine he was blackmailed. That's very much Malzi's style."
"Most likely, yes. I'll look more into it when we get back and try to get you his contact info and address."
Hana smiled. "Thank you." She closed her laptop then and grabbed some clothes and toiletries from her travel bag. "Now if you don't mind, I need a shower."
"Sure. Just don't sing."
"Gosh, that's rude. But also fair."
"'Course it is. You'll get us kicked out with your lousy singing. If we get stuck in a zombie apocalypse I'll blame you."
"I'll accept it."
With that, Hana slipped into the bathroom, her phone laying on the edge of the sink while she washed away a day's worth of twists and turns? She couldn't help but rewind Maria's videos in her mind. Those kids, so cheerful and loud and bold, with their games and their birthday parties. The one who had brought a pizza slice to the man who had possibly ended them.
The whole time, one question stuck in her mind: why?
Out of the shower, Hana's phone buzzed on the sink while she dried her body. It was a message from Killua — so enamored and sweet it almost made her cry.
'what are you up to? im gonna sleep early here cause.. i miss you. and i thought if i slept earlier the days would pass faster until youre back. i know it makes no sense but i love you so nothing makes sense in my head anymore'
Was it possible to melt because of a single message? Because Hana was about sure she was turning into a pile of love. 'This… might be the cutest thing you've ever told me?'
'shuuuuuuuuuut uppppppp youre a nerrrrrrd. so was it good?'
Typical Killua, spilling with love then covering it up with a joke to cushion the emotional vulnerability. She wished she could hug him. He was more fragile than he let on. 'Yeah, I have a lot to tell you. I'll probs wait to be back though; it's… complicated'
'fair tbh'
'Wbu? All good with Elias and Gon?'
'yeah it's like babysitting but we all babysit each other cause mentally we're all 12'
'That's a good description lol. So you'll sleep soon?'
'yeaaaah. it's weird sleeping without you, ngl'
'Awww… Well, I could.. If you want, or need? Send you a little something?'
'what kinda something?'
Hana sat on the edge of the bathtub. In the room, she could hear Lynd ruffling through a bag of chips while watching a true crime documentary Hana had already seen. 'Let's just say,' she started typing, looking for a way to voice her thoughts, 'answering little tendernesses with nudes can be a love language and I speak it fluently'
Killua took a moment before replying. Thank god she didn't have rejection issues. 'okay, fire up the noods'
And she rolled her eyes at this message, but nevertheless removed the towel that covered her body and snapped a few pictures, heart pounding, one hand holding her hair for a more alluring shot. It wasn't the first time he would see her naked, and he wasn't the first person she sent nudes to, but there was an expectation there, a performance. It wasn't like sex where her body was flush and alive; there, she would be captured still, and it was as thrilling as it was intimidating.
The picture she sent was cut right below her eyes and above her pelvis. It showed enough — perky breasts that begged to be kissed, a shy smile, freckles on her shoulders, and her eternal rosy cheeks. Her arm raised to hold her hair made her look sensual, a temptress looking to seduce with an off-frame smoldering gaze left to the imagination. Though it was mostly to make her boobs look perkier. Nudes tech.
As she pressed 'send', her face was a furnace.
Hana waited expectantly, a mixture of anxiety and anticipation jumping in her stomach.
Killua's answer did not disappoint — if you knew Killua, that was. '... your tits look like candies, i hate you hana'
'You HATE me?' she replied, feeling a laugh building in her chest but taming herself so as to not reveal she was texting in the bathroom. Naked. After a shower. Which… was pretty self-explanatory, for anyone who knew Hana just a little bit and her need to be wooed. 'I send you a pic of my tits and you say you hate me? Omfg Killua'
'I WAS NOT READY'
'BUT I TOLD YOU?'
'i mean, yeah, i know, i *was* ready, and i am thankful, grateful, indebted to your gracious breasts, and humbled... but holy fuck. holy boobs of the sacred tittynity i have never wanted to fjeklhjgkehgkjegh someone that much. and i cant. cause yOURE NOT THERE. where is my bible'
Killua did not own a bible. 'You have no actual idea how to flirt, do you?' she joked, forgetting she was naked and cold.
'what do u expect me to do? tell you my dick is hard? spell it out that i wanna suck on your tits?'
'Yeah?'
'well there u go. i wanna do nasty things to you, but you're 300 miles away. why do we exist just to suffer'
Hana laughed. Any ounce of cheekiness she could have felt had vanished. 'I'm sorry? If I had known I'd have sent you an ankle pic'
'ankles? the youth this day, i swear. give them a little freedom and suddenly they practice libertinism.'
'You're killing me'
'only fair after that crit shot'
There, she couldn't help it anymore. She was cackling like an old hen, and Lynd, being ten steps ahead, would guess Hana's nude-sending-and-flirting session had ended with memes as most things did with Killua, and she would poke fun at Hana ceaselessly. But Hana couldn't contain it anymore, and she spilled with joy and laughter. Everything was more cheerful with Killua. Even being apart for days. 'I miss you a lot,' she admitted. One day and she was already a sappy, horny bitch. How had she ever held a whole week?
'i miss you too. and ur tits. and ur ass.'
He typed for a moment after that. Knowing him, probably writing something very cheesy, memey, and backspacing because he felt cringe. 'You want a pic of my ass too?' she asked.
'and ur smile and your snores and the way you hog all the blanket like a capitalist holding onto 90% of the wealth while the threshold of poverty is always a little bit higher — wait. u said ass'
'Yeah. Since you miss it. Just an offer! A bargain. A lil parting gift until we meet like in two days'
Silence. Silence that preceded a fatidic moment. 'i will regret but. i. i. im weak…'
'So I take it as a yes?'
'yes. yes please'
That 'please' sounded delightful.
Though the full-length mirror had felt awkward when Hana had stepped into the bathroom, and she had double checked there were no peephole or cameras there for some voyeur, now she was thankful for it. Hell, even she thought her ass looked wondrous in that picture. A sight to behold. A beauty. 'To keep you warm tonight,' she captioned the picture.
There had to be a short-circuit on his end. He was online, but didn't reply for a while. 'can't stop staring,' he finally sent. 'you look fucking delicious. you don't know what i'd give to fuck you right now'
Pure honey to read. 'Then touch yourself while thinking of me, will you? for me?'
'wasn't waiting for you to ask'
She imagined him saying that in that low, raspy voice he used when he murmured orders in her ears. Spread your legs; turn around; say my name; open your mouth; beg for it. Good girl. Ugh. What had she done. He would sleep alone, with all the privacy he needed to do his deed. She couldn't afford that with Lynd in the same room.
'Good night Killua,' she sent a final text, ending this mess of her own making before she was too wet to think.
'oh i'll have a good night alright. you sleep well, hana'
Fortunately for Hana, the urges that befell her for the rest of the night had more to do with the bezers and pickles she and Lynd had bought on their way to Impala City. There truly wasn't better to kill a building arousal than a true crime documentary about Jones the Dismemberer. For Hana at least. But would it kill her need to stuff her mouth with pumpkin seeds? Nah.
"Half of these unsolved crimes would have been solved if the cops had done their job," Lynd whined.
Hana hummed, lost in thought. "I mean, Jones was caught. The 'unsolved' part of this show is how he died in prison. And he was under the Trick Tower's jurisdiction, so."
Theories unfolded one by one — Jones was killed by another inmate, fell to his death, was eaten by the weirdo birds flocking around the Tower, committed suicide, was… abducted by aliens? Sacrificed as part of a ritual? Experimented on? But none of them rang with any truth.
A memory from one of her conversations with Killua popped in her mind. He was telling her about his hunter exam, bragging like he knew best how to, and…
"Oh, yeah, I was twelve and I ripped out his heart, then crushed it and watched him collapse," he had explained. During breakfast, no less. Hana was eating a pomegranate; it didn't help, but it didn't stop her. "You should have seen the look on his buddies' faces, heh. Easy like plucking a grape. They didn't bother us after that. Metal, huh."
Hana choked down a sigh. Lynd didn't need to know she was dating Jones's killer.
The episode switched to the cold case of the Asphodel, a nickname given to one York Shin's most famous serial killer. Mostly famous because the Asphodel had been a woman, an anomaly in the pattern of serial killers, and all her victims had turned out to be involved directly with human trafficking networks. Some people had even demanded to let the Asphodel free, arguing that she was ridding the world of rotten people hiding behind the safety of their bank account. Which, fair. But whether the police tried or not, she remained as elusive as the Whisper, with the only hint being a short recording of a haunting, pained voice sending her victim to hell.
Of course, that hint was not enough to pinpoint a murderer's identity, and voices and bodies weren't always accurate descriptors of one's gender, but given the theme of her kills, many assumed her to be a survivor avenging herself or a friend. Bleakly enough, human trafficking targeted first and foremost women. At an alarmingly high rate.
The episode ended on a low note: the rates of human trafficking hadn't diminished the slightest.
Lynd heaved a sigh. "You know, the way Celia looked at me," she started, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion.
"I saw, yeah."
"Even though I'm supposed to work for the law, it feels like I serve the other side of it. Even in this episode, this killer was doing what the cops didn't dare to."
She reached for Lynd's shoulder, gently pulling her friend into a hug. At least, hunters didn't have to answer to any law. A definitive advantage of that was that this dichotomy — of serving a law-enforcing institution that did not follow any law — did not exist. The privilege, however, did. And the abuse of power. "You wanna quit?"
"I think about it. But I know my superiors will be suspicious. Quitting right after a trip here? With a hunter?"
"I could help you and Jino hide, if he's on board."
Lynd offered a tired smile. "I've discussed it with him. He can relate." She chuckled, but the sound was wry and humorless. "Imagine the ruckus if the police chief of Megamshill resigns. I'll be reduced to my gender, my ethnicity, or whatever else they decide to debate."
"But you know you're more than just that, right?"
"I do. It just sucks that I can't be me. I have to be a representative of everyone who looks like me."
"Yeah, relatable," Hana said, and she meant it. Being Tanalean, she had heard all sorts of things, both subtle and not, about people like her. Disgust and fear, contempt and downright disregard. Either a pretty gimmick, a reflection of the bellydancer in silky veils, or a walking time bomb. She barely looked the role, but Saherta could always tell. They were the other, and the other was not welcome. "Just, you have my support, whatever you decide."
"Thanks, babe." Lynd broke the hug then, heading to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She stopped right by the door, glancing at Hana. "By the way, I hope he liked those pics. My bladder almost paid the price for them."
Hana burst out laughing. "Sorry."
"Bitch, you're not sorry."
"Not really, no."
They both went to bed after an insightful discussion on the best nudes angles, but all intellectual conversations aside, it wasn't long until they succumbed to a heavy sleep — weighed by hours under the sun, encounters with mysterious families, and dead mercenaries rising from their graves.
And nudes. Which were definitely better than zombies.
However, halfway through the night, a cry awoke Hana. A sound like a long, pleading wail that shook her down to the marrow. Still groggy from sleep, and confused as one awoken by distress cries can be, she yawned, then waited, and the wail continued, softer this time.
In horror movies, people who checked on cries ended up dead. Especially when they were lone women. So Hana attributed the cries to her imagination and closed her eyes.
Until she remembered she was a hunter. A trained agent of death. Monsters should fear her, because people like her made meals out of their horns. And that was when they decided to become cooks.
"Please!"
Hana pushed her bedsheets, shivering as the cold kissed her bare legs, and grabbed a sweater. That plea was real. As real as the urgency that seized her. She removed her pajama shorts, opting for pants instead, and checked on her friend; Lynd was sound asleep.
Then, the wails diminished, as if they came from farther.
As if whoever was screaming was being dragged away.
A/N: yeah, i've been watching buzzfeed unsolved and you can tell. and the wails? Well all i can say is that i stream horror games sometimes :)
Also not gonna lie, im pretty pleased with fitting both the plot and hana's tits in this chapter title. Priorities, ya know.
Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated, always, but no need to fret if you're shy. You can also find me on my twitter, the handle is queenemone.