The boys discuss their fight with Razer.
A\N: I'm back! I hoping that there'll be less than five more chapters over talking about their past. I did however, notice that there's a few things I'm going make Killua come to light with, because it's something that I made him argue he'll never tell Daniel lolz.
"The plan was simple…" Killua offered with a small smile, "if we were the first to grab it, we can screw over Genthru. Obtaining the card would've been impossible with our group, especially after we learned what happens when your team scores seven points. It turns into a sudden deathmatch. The winner gets eight points, meaning you lose, especially if you throw your best players first. Now… that being said, once I realised it was impossible to win with our group setup, I talked to Bisky, Gon and Daniel… suggesting we forceful lose so we can obtain intel on what we're dealing with. For example, in our first loss, the guy on our team was an Emitter throwing Nen orbs like he was a professional pitcher, throwing the world's softest balls made from cotton candy. The guy he was up with, had a Nen ability to transport his fist anywhere in the ring. He suckered punched the dude in the chin… gave him a nice uppercut."
Daniel chuckled at the example, "That's one way of putting how terrible our matchup was. If only we knew ahead of time what were to happen if we won every match we could."
"Yeah, a few deaths…"
"Why? What was going to happen?"
Killua wiggled his finger at the girls, "No spoilers. Every match was sports-themed. Boxing, juggling, basketball, sumo wrestling, and so on. The group split after realising not even Genthru had a chance at obtaining this card. One of the members, Goreinu stayed behind to join our team. Only three of these cards could exist at any given time. We already had two groups with us. We needed at least… three members who could beat them, but they had to be on a single team. I was hoping to get a team consisting of ten players. Daniel suggested Tsezgerra which sounded good… but then Gon had to suggest Chrollo, who we later found out was Hisoka."
"Can I be honest…?"
Killua raised a concerning eyebrow, "About?"
"My reaction to seeing Hisoka?"
"Terrified…?" The boy asked, hoping that he wouldn't have said otherwise. They ran into Hisoka, and he was butt naked. He didn't want an answer other than Hisoka scares the shit out of me.
Daniel shook his head.
Even though he was a little troubled at the words that could follow, they were being more open with each other "Alright… it's about being open with each other. But know that I will judge you if you give a weird answer."
"Alright…"
The girls looked at each other in concern.
Daniel took in a deep breath, "Gon was adamant at finding out who Chrollo was. When we arrived, it was foggy so we could only catch a glimpse of who it was. When the fog parted, we were greeted by a man who now haunts our nightmares… Hisoka… butt naked… bathing. And when he turned, without his makeup… his hair down… I thought he was kinda hot."
Killua let out a disgusted sound, "Dude, why did you think that?! Just no… that's disgusting. If he heard that, he'll turn you into his personal, Onihole."
"Hell no! I'll Return-On, my ass out of there! Hey, think about it from my perspective. I was coming to terms with my feelings about liking you… then I see a ripped… I'm talking marble Greek statue ripped as fuck Hisoka, butt naked, hair down… THE MOMENT HE OPENED HIS MOUTH, I immediately lost interest. You're telling me, if I looked like that, you wouldn't take in the scenery…?"
"Well, if it was you… sure. But not Hisoka. I did not think about him like that when I saw him. My first thought was oh fuck… we're dealing with that guy again. He was disgusting…"
"Yeah, he was… and still is. I want nothing to do with him. Not after what happened…" The boy flicked his gaze in the direction of the girls, "He was trying to figure out who our Nen teacher was… and while she was drooling in the background, Hisoka was getting harder the longer he was testing our strength. I finally built the courage to grab my friends and turn us around… but when I told him to put some clothes on…"
Killua's face morphed into disgust, "He said… and I quote: Why...? You like what you see…" He saw the girls were as equally disgusted as he was. However, he wanted to get off the topic and focus less on Daniel's initial reaction, and more on what happened with Hisoka next "Bisky wanted to get Hisoka to help us, considering she realised he was lying about what he was doing there. We… wanted nothing to do with him."
"At the time, I had a feeling he was lying too…"
"And why didn't you say anything… at the time?" Killua rested his hands on his hips, pouting from the new information being presented to him, long after the event.
"Would you call out Hisoka right in front of his face?"
Killua features dropped. Daniel was right, calling out Hisoka in front of his face was a death sentence, it's why Bisky called Hisoka out on his lies via her secret Nen message to them. With a sigh, Killua agreed "You're right under the circumstance… but you should've told us that after he departed from us."
Daniel was silent for a moment, "Before or after my confession?"
Killua raised a finger, only to stop once he realised what happened to Daniel. He was knocked out by Razer… he wasn't even awake when Hisoka left them, "Well, damn… spit it out now."
"Hisoka had some glaring issues. Like, why was he looking for Chrollo in an area only Nen users could access. I later learned that thought was false. But, it's still a valid question even now. Two, how did he find out the Spiders were interested in Greed Island. Three, considering the sour taste that man left with the other Phantom Troupe members… how did he plan on surviving after passing off that information? They'd sooner kill him than give Hisoka something in return for removing Kurapika's Judgement Chain…"
The boy ran his fingers over his chin in response. They were legitimately good questions. It was the kind of questions that would've piqued Gon's interest. So, why hadn't he thought about how Hisoka found out where the Spiders were located? It couldn't be because he wanted to get as far as possible from Hisoka… Maybe even Bisky pointing out Hisoka was lying poisoned his thoughts…
Especially how Hisoka mentioned Magnetic Force right before he departed from them. But Daniel wasn't awake to hear that. Nor would this information be right to mention right now, considering it happened later "These are valid questions… a little late, but valid." Reaching out, the boy ran his fingers through the top of the slightly taller boy's hair, threading them through the long strands, "It's too late to gather information about this, but it gives me a reason to confess something… voice your concerns more often."
Daniel brought his hand up to touch Killua's hand. He offered a smile at the words, happy with the confession. He was also happy that his partner was able to do these in front of others without a single care in the world, but those thoughts were dashed when Killua glanced in the direction of the girls.
He was caught what Killua would judge as a compromising situation. Not the naked kind, of course, the kind where his feelings were let loose for everyone to judge… and judge they did.
Killua ignored Clarisa's reaction instead pointing an accusatory finger a Madelyn "Gag all you want," he feinted embarrassment, "but I'll bet you any Jenny you'll be in this kind of situation one day."
"Over my dead body! That's too…" The girl rolled her wrist as she looked in the direction of her friend, hoping she'll know the word. But instead, she caught the reaction of someone who'd been hurt, "No! Not you too…"
Clarisa crossed her arms, "I find that sweet! You can bet I'll be like that one day too…"
The other groaned in frustration, caught at a crossroad. The girl who likes her is going to be just as bad as the two boys in front of her, "Let's move on from this sappy conversation."
Killua once more crossed his arms, a little more frustrated at the situation, considering where in this part of the story they were headed to, Madelyn would also not like the context of the conversation "Sucks to be you… because Hisoka led us to the City of Love, Aiai because we were looking for strong players, and he thought we would find them in Aiai… You know…" Killua rolled his wrist, hoping the girls got the mental picture.
Madelyn's eyes narrowed slightly "Is this important information we need to hear?"
Daniel offered a nod, "Yup, because I've got some thoughts now that I'm older."
"By a year give or take…"
"Enough for me to think about the what-ifs of the situation."
"Oh…" Killua uncrossed his arm, instead opting to rest one hand on his hip, "What do you think is the reason he brought us to that town?"
"To find out something about us… mainly, what kind of NPCs we'll trigger…"
"Like…?"
"I triggered the, you turned me gay cliché. Gon was the damsel in distress… You, however… didn't trigger anything."
"Soo… what?"
"What if Hisoka was trying to find out something about us, via the town. He's friends with your brother… maybe he was trying to find out…" Daniel let the words linger.
"If I'm gay… don't know why though."
"The head of the Zoldyck Estate being gay would put a wrench in your parents' operation. Especially considering you couldn't have any direct descendants."
"Funny you should mention that, considering Card #7 Pregnancy Stones." The boy turned to the girls "Dudes could get pregnant with this stone." Turning back to his partner, he continued "Anyways, I'd carry the kid to term and I'll have a little me running around. The parents can't bitch anymore…"
"I'm sure they would…" When Killua sighed, Daniel pressed forward, "I can't pinpoint why Hisoka wanted to find out this information, but I have a gut-wrenching feeling, if you turned out to be gay, maybe he would've pushed Illumi to be the next head."
"Why…?"
Daniel shrugged, "don't know… maybe it'll be more fun for him later down the track if he pisses off the Zoldyck family. He likes danger… he likes competition. Illumi plus any kids that guy could fuck into existence might provide him with the sense of fun and competition he'd want later if the toys as he likes to call them, run out."
Killua thought it over "It's possible… it's also dumb if he thinks he could piss on the Zoldyck's grave if he takes me out via Illumi's succession. My family would probably think of a way to get me to stay in power, even though… I'm gay."
"That's true…"
"Not only that… since we're building our connection, it'll also stop them from manipulating me into filling the role they set for me. But like I said… we'll deal with that situation when we cross that bridge. Otherwise…" Killua offered a sly smirk, "considering how you reacted at that time to suddenly gay cliché… would've you gotten jealous if a guy approached me?"
"Yes…" Daniel stated flatly, "I would've gotten jealous. Not because you caught their eye, but the internal feelings I was struggling through at the time." As Killua raised an eyebrow in concern, the boy pressed on "When that asshole thought I was a cute guy because I looked girlish… it reminded me so much of Yannick, and I hated that. At this point, I already had developed feelings for you… I was just pushing them aside because I feared your reaction to them. So, when I started seeing these clichés pop up, a small part of me must have realised, if you were approached… I might have a chance of finding out what your type is. If I fit that type… maybe I had a chance."
Killua shook his head, "I would've blown them off anyways. I wasn't interested in any of those stupid clichés… you saw how frustrated I got when Gon was about to help the damsel in distress…"
"Be honest… you were a little jealous too."
Killua looked away as he crossed his arms, "No, I wasn't…"
Daniel gave the boy a knowing smile, "Oh, you would've…"
"I'm getting off this topic now. Daniel ran out of the town, frustrated after having dealt with one of the gay clichés… the I thought you were a cute girl, but it turns out you're a guy cliché… reminded Daniel of Yannick."
"Well, when you put it like that… I withheld part of the truth at the time."
"Such as…"
"Well, the thought of you accepting me as a partner… it made me happy… even if it was a lie to get the NPC off my back."
"Oh…" Killua paused, thinking seriously about the scenario. Then it was what the man said afterwards that reminded him of Yannick. Daniel never liked anyone arguing they knew him better than he did.
He despised those who suggested they could better fit the role of replacing others…
The boy scrubbed off that last thought. No, that wasn't right… since Heaven's Arena, Daniel hadn't like anyone who said they could fulfil his every need. Whether it was fascination, or that his partner has like him since then… he wasn't too sure.
Every time someone said they could replace his every need; Daniel had become aggravated at the thought…
It's like they believed they could just replace who he's attracted to, the one he has feelings for…
Killua shook his head at his thoughts with a smirk, "I might have figured out the moment you had feelings for me."
Daniel raised an eyebrow, "So that's why you went silent…"
"Sh…" Killua's face went beetroot red, "Shut up Baka. Heaven's arena, when you blew up in Yannick's face. Maybe earlier than that…"
Daniel gave a nod in understanding, "Yeah… that might make sense. I'll pick your brain for your reasoning later." Crossing his arms, he covertly pointed a finger at Madelyn, "else we'll hear complaints."
Killua assessed the situation. Madelyn certainly looked like she was about to blow a gasket. She didn't like the whole conversation of Daniel and Killua sharing their feelings for one another, not while she was still repressing hers or at least, trying to figure out her feelings, "Moving on-"
Clarisa whined loudly, "It was just getting cute too…"
Pouting from the situation, Madelyn could only look frustrated at her friend.
Killua didn't let that deter him from moving on "We thought about what we should do next. Then Gon, in his uncaring ways… decided to voice that we should've asked Tsezgerra to join us, instead of listening to Hisoka… and heading to Aiai. Asking to look at the list of names in that man's binder, he wanted to see if he had walked past Tsezgerra. You see… everyone had a list. Depending on who you walk past, you can use certain spells on them…"
"Like Accompany, to transport everyone to a certain individual. We did it with Hisoka… now that man was going to do it for us for Tsezgerra, provided, that man was willing to work with us."
Killua gave a nod, "He agreed to hear us out. At the start, we thought he was in a group of two, but he had two lying in wait just in case we were setting him up so we could steal cards off him. Genthru had done the same to him earlier. He was willing to join us, now making us a group of ten in total. We recruited five others so we could make up for the fifteen, bribing them with a chance to get them out of the game using Leave."
"What happened was a little confusing… We scored a couple of wins, then Razor decided to change what happens next. He told the others to throw their matches because we were about to move onto a deadly match of Volleyball. One of the Devils didn't like that… he wanted revenge after his humiliating loss with Killua. But one thing we did learn about the interaction… Greed Island wasn't a game… it was an actual place in the real world. Razor killed the man because he broke that taboo… by revealing we were in the real world, not a game world."
"Wait, so, you could sail to Greed Island, rather than entering the normal way?"
"Yup… Although, it's exact coordinates is masked, so you'd have to sail around quite a bit. But considering the Game Masters would be checking for people entering the place through other methods, rather than the normal way. One of those game masters is the same one that we were about to fight… Razor."
"Isn't that cheating? He's a Game Master, and he's acting like a regular NPC."
Killua shook his head, "No cheating was how strong he was in comparison to us. He maintained Eight Devils using both Emitter and Manipulation techniques. Considering his strength, he leaned more towards Emitter… He was unbelievably strong…" The boy continued to explain the rules they were given, along with who and how they got knocked out.
Devil #4 got knocked out first…
Devil #5 got knocked out second…
"When Razor remarked about now being ready, Goreinu took it as a challenge. He loaded the volleyball with aura before throwing it Razor. The man… caught it in a single palm without batting an eye. Goreinu's attack did nothing to the man. He returned the ball to Goreinu… aiming directly at his face. If he hadn't swapped… his head would've been taken off."
The girl's eyes widened as they listened, fear settling in their eyes.
Killua detailed Razor's next method, he bounced the ball between himself, #5, #1, #4 then back to himself, before finally stopping on #4. The Devil aimed for Tsezgerra next, "If he hadn't applied aura to his back, Razor would've definably, shattered his spine…"
"And you beat that… considering you're here now?"
Daniel gave a nod, "Yes, it wasn't easy though. We applied a different tactic. Using Hisoka's bungee gum, we got him to try to knock everyone but Razor out. If he was last, he couldn't use back. Hisoka took out #3. He next aimed for #6… however, Razor combined #6 with #7, making #13. The new entity was stronger than Hisoka. The man was unable to pull the ball free from its grasp."
Killua grit his teeth when he continued, mentioning with Razor's next throw, the man was intending to kill Gon. Thankfully, he didn't get seriously injured, but the impact combined with Gon flying out of his shoes and into a wall outside the ring had them worried.
It had taken some convincing from Bisky, but Gon wasn't to call back, unless, they were down to two players.
"Goreinu wasted our turn by trying to knock Razor out. Unfortunately for him, his rage had blinded him. The moment the volleyball collided with Razor's face, #13 threw #2 to catch the ball, which it then threw back to #13… Even though Goreinu was out, Razor returned the ball to the man's face, knocking him out cold. Then… his next target was…" The boy looked over to his partner.
Daniel crossed his arms, "I thought he was going to go for Killua next, so I used my ability to provide a second defence. Unfortunately, the ball curved towards me. I was able to catch it using my ability, but the velocity, combined with my lack of reaction to redirecting the ball towards Hisoka so he could grab it… led to the ball getting through my defences. The moment it got through my ability… looking back on it… I was surprised with my pain tolerance…"
He turned to face his partner, "As you know about the condition of my ability… the shadows being an extension of my body, the moment it ripped through that shadowy hand, I felt the pain rip through the same arm I used to defend myself."
Killua hummed over the news… at the time Daniel had ignored his pain, most likely due to the adrenaline running through his body, mixed with the need to survive, "Not for long though…"
Daniel gave a nod, this time turning back to the girls, "The ball ripped through the second hand I tried to use as a cushion, but due to the vow and limitation I set upon myself, it broke some of my ribs… and shattered the bones in the arm, I used to defend myself. In a last-ditch effort, I used my body to rebound the ball, begging Hisoka to catch it. When my friends checked up on me, the impact blurred my vision making me see at least triples. I may or may not have called Killua's after images cute…"
"He did…" Killua admitted casually.
"I also asked if Hisoka caught the ball… which he said the man did."
Killua's expression changed, the guilt evident on his face, "Razer caught it… considering you launched it in his direction."
"I see… so I ultimately failed…" Daniel felt defeated within the moment. Even though they did win in the end, he hadn't helped them achieve the victory. All he was, was an easy point for Razor, "Then… what I felt at the time… what I wanted to say…" Shaking his head, the boy moved on "What happened next?"
Killua raised an eyebrow, "Hold on, I'm not letting you gloss over that. What were you about to say?"
"It was at that moment… after surviving Razor's throw, I wanted to confess my feelings for you the moment I woke up."
"Oh…" Killua's cheeks flushed red. Of course, it had to be during a moment of barely surviving he felt like saying, fuck everything… I'm gonna confess my feelings "I see…" Resting on hand on his hip, he went over everything that happened afterwards.
From Bisky getting knocked out due to the ball ripping through her skirt…
That, if he had stepped to the left, rather than the right… he would've died.
Daniel's hand tightened at the news. Back when he was told this he was in severe pain, so every reaction made him flinch in pain. But hearing it once more… made him furious…
If they ever have a reason to go back to Greed Island, he was going to get some revenge on that man.
Killua hadn't stopped, continuing even with his partner's visible anger.
He kept going, detailing how Razer blocked one of Gon's Jajanken, well… before it was named Jajanken - Rock variation attack. He even discussed what happened to his hands, "Due to my inexperience with rapid application of aura, I left my hands wide open… so Gon could use the full force of his aura. It fucked my hands… leaving them numb and bruised, swollen in pain. I was in constant pain… and when Tsezgerra tried to replace me, saying he could do what I did without getting hurt… Gon denied him."
The boy's features soften, "It was probably a moment when I started to fall for Gon if I were being honest… He said, I already knew… I knew Killua's hands were messed up. I need him to hold the ball. Killua's the only one who can do it! He then followed it with, if Bisky, Hisoka or Daniel held it, I probably couldn't use my full strength. The only reason I can focus wholly on hitting the ball is because Killua's holding it for me… he trusted only me to do it."
"Wow… and he said he loved me also."
"To be fair, you'd be in serious pain if he went all out…"
"Joke's on him because I can do what Tsezgerra can do… So now, if we were to repeat that moment, I could do it without you needing to get hurt in the process…"
Killua's cheeks brightened, "Of course you'd turn this into a sappy moment…" but then the boy's expression hardened, slightly, "although I doubt it. He was exerting his full strength… maybe if you could reach Vastorie's aura levels, or gain even a fraction of it… I could see you pulling it off…"
"Ouch…" Daniel feinted hurt. It was an honest fact though. He still needed to get stronger… he couldn't deny that, even now, after how much stronger he has gotten over these past few months.
Clenching his fist, Daniel's smile grew, "Then, I'll just have to keep improving…"
"It took at least three more back and forth throws before we beat that guy. But at least we got him to use his back in the process. So, technically, we knocked him out twice…"
Madelyn got quite suddenly, letting those words sink in. Daniel would rather Killua never got, but even when Killua stated even though he had gotten stronger, he still wasn't strong enough, he was willing to take the criticism.
He wanted to get strong enough to defend his partner so he'd never need to put himself in danger to win.
Is that why their bond was strong…?
Or was it something else?
Looking up to meet the boys' gaze, Madelyn spoke up "What happened next?"