The Valkyrie and the hybrid threw their shoes on in a frantic rush. It seemed like every other second, another crash or scream sounded. Gon pulled his classic green jacket over his shoulders, and felt the rush of adrenaline filling his body.
The feeling, it's back.
Gon hopped from foot to foot as Killua tugged his white t-shirt over his navy turtleneck. They were both wearing their favorite clothes: Gon in his shorts, jacket, and boots, and Killua in his shorts, tennis shoes, and layered shirts.
The cold outside didn't matter, Gon needed to feel the rush of air against his bare legs, it helped him fight more accurately. Also, winter clothes - especially Neko-Village clothes - were the exact opposite of breathable. Fighting required comfortable and movable clothing. Besides, the cold wouldn't end up mattering. They would be moving around too much to notice. If they had run out in Neko-clothing, they would have just ended up shedding layers as the fight progressed.
"Ready?" Killua asked, assassin mode pouring dangerous aura off of him in droves.
"Ready," Gon declared, his own aura pouring off of him to mix with Killua's.
With that, they took off at lighting speed. They crashed through the windows and into the frigid night air. The sprinted faster than ever before across the rooftops, fueled by adrenaline and the instinct to fight that rose up within them at the sound of terrorized screams.
After a painfully long five minutes, they arrived at the entrance to the Village.
The gate was destroyed again, but due to the lack of wind - and thankfully so - there was no thick dust cloud hiding everything from view.
The gate was in shambles once again, and a sprinkling of Neko-Girls were either running away or standing frozen as they watched the chaos at the gate. There it was. The monster! Gon growled as he took it in with his eyes, ready for a fight.
Up close it was clear: the monster was an enormous ice serpent.
It had four tiny legs near the head and tail, and the rest was thick and cylindrical like an eel's. Its head was long and thin like a dragon's, and it had several horns protruding from the back of its skull. Its scales were in white and icy blue, and were thick and clearly strong. A still healing wound from where Gon and Killua had first assaulted it was visible, a dried green popping against the pearly white. It roared, and spittle flew. Its maw was huge and filled with giant fangs, some taller than Gon was.
The two boys launched themselves off of the last rooftop before the blood-stained village square, and as they flew through the air several Neko-Girls called out in relief and surprise as they saw the two warriors rushing to the scene.
As they approached, Gon took the area in with his sharp eyes, realizing that the Neko-Girls he had previously mistaken for standing in fear were actually standing by choice! They were right in the serpent's reach! They were gonna be killed!
Gon snarled as the serpent rushed forward, maw open wide and ready to crush the Neko-Girl of its choosing: only 16 years old, with golden tan skin and silky black hair. She shuddered in terror, but stood her ground.
"The hell is she DOING?!" Killua yelled from his side, and suddenly started falling towards the serpent faster.
Damn, that Valkyrie aerodynamic stuff is so freaking cool.
The two of them made it just in the nick of time. Killua slammed into the serpent's face, using his momentum to drive it off course. Gon hit the ground running, and grabbed the Neko-Girl off her feet, holding her bridal style and sprinting to safety.
She trembled like a newborn deer, and clung to Gon's jacket in a vice-like grip.
The look in her eyes was that of one who had cheated death.
Gon set her down on the edge of the town square, and then rushed back to the fight. He arrived just in time to catch Killua before the Valkyrie crashed into the ground. The hybrid grunted as he took the full force of Killua's momentum and dispelled it.
"You good?" he asked, voice rough and craving violence.
"Yeah," Killua responded in an equally dark tone.
Gon lifted Killua by his upper arms to his feet, and together they rushed back in at the serpent before it could attack another of the Neko-Girls, who were still just standing there like cows up for slaughter.
The tan boy glanced over at Killua, and the two of them nodded. They approached the serpent head-on to distract it from the innocent bystanders, and it took the bait. With a thunderous roar, it charged the two boys.
The thing's enormous maw snapped with a "clish" noise, and the two boys jumped away just in time, and landed on its head, just as they had been aiming to do the first time they had fought. The serpent was huge, but was an easy opponent to attack. The only real problem was its scales.
"Go for the eyes!" Killua commanded as the serpent continued writhing around the square, searching for its two assailants, unaware that they were on its head.
With a nod Gon obeyed, and the two of them climbed up its head. Gon positioned himself over the creature's eye, hanging by his arms in wait by one of its many horns. At Killua's nod, they simultaneously swung down and slammed their feet into each of its eyes.
The monster loosed a deafening roar of pain, and its eyelids snapped shut. Gon retracted his feet just in time, and before he knew it he was flung into the air as the serpent thrashed its giant head back and forth.
He hit the ground hard, but was up in a moment's notice. Gon rushed back in, Killua was still clinging to the monster! The Valkyrie had his claws extended and was stuck to the serpent's scales like a cat to a set of curtains.
With a guttural snarl, Gon sprinted up taking huge steps. He drove his knee down hard and used the power in his legs to launch himself into the air. He twisted in a 360 pencil roll through the air to pick up speed, and cracked his arm back for a punch.
He couldn't have timed it more perfectly, for when Gon swung his fist connected with the monster's snout. A sickening crack rang out through the town square, and green blood sprayed all over Gon.
The serpent screeched, and - in its usual figure eight pattern of movement - slithered to the gate in the blink of an eye. Gon was already falling back down to the ground, and watched with frantic eyes for Killua, who last he had seen was still hanging off the thing's face.
Gon's sharp eyes picked up a spray of green blood and a flash of white just before the serpent disappeared into the night. Killua fell to the ground in a sprinkling of blood and scale fragments, landing gracefully on his feet. Gon on the other hand, landed in a messy summersault, just barely managing to roll to a stumbling stand.
They had touched down on opposite sides of the town square, and immediately darted to meet each other in the middle.
"We did it?" Gon asked in clarification.
"We did it," Killua confirmed, eyes fiery and covered in green blood. Clearly he had been doing more than just hanging on for dear life, if the scale fragments in his hair and stuck in the flesh of his hands were any indication.
The two boys looked each other up and down, checking for any notable injury. Killua was fine save for the scale fragments in his hands. Gon had taken a few hard landings, and had merely acquired a few cuts and bruises from tumbling across the cobblestone mosaic. Both of them were coated head to toe in thick and rancid green serpent's blood.
A slow murmuring rose from the crowd of Neko-Girls, and soon the murmuring morphed into cheers and applause. Gon and Killua were swarmed by the group of grateful women, some wept, some prayed, many of them reached out to brush their fingers against one of the boys' arms in gratitude.
Gon had the breath knocked out of him when the girl he had saved launched herself at him and just about tackled him to the ground in a tight embrace. She sobbed into his shoulder, "Thank you! Thank you so much! You saved my life!"
The tan boy was surprised at first, but quickly looped his arms around her, returning the embrace. "It was nothing, I couldn't just let you die!" She wailed out all of a sudden, and leaned all of her weight on Gon, bawling her eyes out. Her tail was even wrapped around his waist.
The group of women cooed and "aww"ed, some were even moved to tears.
Gon comforted her as she sobbed, letting her know that she was okay and that the monster was gone now. He looked over at Killua from over the girl's head, and met his gaze. The Valkyrie had a couple of Neko-Girls hovering around him, coming in for physical touch now that it had been initiated between this girl and Gon. He looked very uncomfortable having so many women all over him, but he also found an indecipherable glaze to those sapphire eyes as he watched Gon comfort the girl.
He lost his train of thought, however, when the girl suddenly loosened her grip and leaned back, hands on Gon's shoulders and pressed flush against his chest. "My name is Alvara, and I am forever in your debt! What can I call you?"
"My name is Gon Freecss!" he responded with a smile.
I sure am glad she stopped crying, I hate seeing people cry, it makes me so sad.
Alvara's eyes sparkled, and she grinned in a crescent of white teeth, "It's incredible to meet you, Gon!"
"Nice to meet you too!"
"Mister Gon?" came an elderly voice from Gon's left.
"Yes ma'am?" Gon responded politely to an elderly woman with waist length silver hair.
"May I shake your hand, dear?"
"Of course!"
Gon moved away from Alvara to shake the Neko-woman's hand, however, Alvara stayed glued to his side. "My name is Chandra, and I am eternally grateful for your bravery. You have saved our village two times now, and we owe you the world."
The hybrid felt his cheeks warm, Chandra reminded him of his grandmother. She was so sweet and amiable. "It was my pleasure, but I couldn't have done it without Killua's help!"
Gon heard Killua perk up at the sound of his name, and he then watched with a soft smile as Chandra then approached the Valkyrie. "Mister Killua? May I shake your hand in thanks as well?" she asked the silver haired boy.
"Er, sure," he responded.
Chandra took Killua's scale-pierced and bleeding hands in her own soft, wrinkled ones. "You let blood for our protection, you are a truly brave and honorable young man. I thank you for all you have done for us."
Gon's heart warmed as he watched Killua's eyes widen and fill with that phantom look. He was always surprised when people showed that they valued his life, or that they were glad he was there. It made Gon sad to see that look in his best friend's eyes, but it made him feel so incredibly happy that Chandra was showing him that even though she knew he was a Dragonite Valkyrie, she still accepted him.
"Your welcome, it was nothing," Killua responded with tinted cheeks.
Chandra gave his hands one final grandmotherly squeeze before she asked: "May I tend to your hands, dear?"
"O-of course."
With a smile and a nod, Chandra began gently pulling the scale shards out of Killua's bleeding hands, and placed them in the awaiting palms of a Neko-Girl who had stepped up to help. Gon would have continued watching the kindhearted display, but soon he was swamped with Neko-Girls wanting to shake his hand.
Gon saw so many faces, heard so many names. He couldn't have remembered all of them if he tried! But he did his best to at least commit the faces to memory. So much gratitude, and so many thank you's. He smiled and spoke to each woman or girl, Alvara still wrapped around his arm.
But one thing still bothered him…
And he was sure Killua had noticed as well.
Speaking of Killua.
Gon grinned as he sensed him relax, and made his way over to the Valkyrie. Killua's hands had been cleaned and bandaged, and now Neko-Girls were approaching him just as they had been for Gon.
Killua looked surprised, but was clearly soaking up all the attention like a sponge.
Once he sensed Gon's presence at his side, the two boys met gazes and shared a silent exchange.
He senses it too.
Isolde, Nix, and Zephyr.
They had melted into the crowd.
Soon this situation will be taken out of our hands, if we want to take advantage of this opportunity, we'll have to do it now.
"Hey," Killua voiced, addressing the swarm of Neko-Girls, who immediately gave him their full and undivided attention. "Why did you all just stand there? The serpent could have killed any number of you! Why didn't any of you run or fight back?"
A hush fell over the group, but it was different from the usual hush when they asked the forbidden question. This time, there were murmurings and it was clear that they wanted to respond. However, the three High Priestess' handmaids forcing their way closer to Gon and Killua were spreading a threatening air over the crowd.
It was clear that they were not to say a word.
That they were to wait in silence until Isolde took control and acted as if Killua had never asked anything in the first place.
Gon felt Alvara stiffen at his side, she was biting her lip and glancing between Gon and the ground, clearly at a war with herself.
Suddenly Gon's sixth sense prickled, and he sensed a steely determination-
Coming from Chandra!
"I will tell you, Killua dear," Chandra declared. Isolde stiffened, sending a shudder up Gon's spine, she was pissed. Killua and Gon stood at attention, eyes on Chandra and Chandra alone. Alvara tightened her tail around Gon's waist, clearly supporting Chandra's cause.
"We stood and did nothing because it has been declared illegal by the High Priestess to fight or resist the ice serpent. We must allow it to take its fill of each and every time that it comes here. We say 'nature running its course' as a flimsy bandage for what is really going on. And further than that, what I have just told you is taboo. We are not to speak of it," Chandra's eyes were bright and leafy green, lids lifted up so that Gon could see them for the first time. She gazed into the two boys' eyes in turn, communicating that this was the truth.
Gon and Killua just stood there, processing.
"It's illegal for you to fight back?" Killua asked, clarifying.
Chandra nodded solemnly, and then glared at Isolde, Nix, and Zephyr where they hovered just a few layers of people away from the two boys.
Gon stood there thinking. It was illegal for them to fight back? And the High Priestess had made that rule? They had to let the serpent eat whoever it wanted? That explained everything… how silent everyone always was whenever they asked… the way Alvara had just stood there when the serpent was charging her.
Gon glared, looked at the bloodstained mosaic bricks in disgust.
They were coated in layers upon layers of dried blood, the snow only covered the artistically arranged bricks in patches, as if the ground here was too cursed to cover. How many Neko-Girls had died here? And all on the High Priestess' watch? Camilla was the High Priestess, their religious leader! She was supposed to keep their religion going! And yet she made laws that prevented that! Not to mention she was their Queen! She was supposed to protect her subjects, not put them up for slaughter!
Gon was angry, so very angry.
Alvara sensed it, and buried her face into his shoulder.
He looked down at the dark haired Neko-Girl, who clung to him like he was life itself.
He hated the position she was in, he hated it so much.
Camilla… you're evil.
I hate you.
Gon felt a dark curtain slip over him, this happened whenever he got really mad.
He gave Alvara one last comforting side hug, and then separated himself from her.
"Killua," he said, his voice dark, shadows dancing in his eyes.
The Valkyrie looked up at him, eyes widening slightly as he sensed Gon's aura.
"We're going to speak to Camilla," Gon said.
Killua nodded, a dark look crossing his features.
Together the two of them left the square. The crowd of Neko-Girls parted before them like the red sea, and closed behind them like theater curtains as they passed. Hundreds of eyes followed the two boys. The hair on the backs of hundreds of necks stood on end as a cold and threatening feeling oozed off of the hybrid with eyes on fire. They murmured words of luck, and encouragement.
It was clear that these Neko-Girls were on Gon and Killua's side, at least now anyway.
As Gon walked out of the edge of the crowd, he turned back to look at Isolde. She was fuming, her green eyes might as well have been spitting acid his way. Gon sent the darkest look he could manage right back at her.
This isn't over. You wanted to keep Camilla's secret.
You are just as evil as she is.
With that, the two boys leapt to the rooftops, sprinting towards the castle in cloaks of thick green blood.